Review of Literature

Sustainable livelihood theory provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the interactions between livelihoods of farmer’s households and regional environment change in low-income areas. The different definitions of Sustainable Rural Livelihood Security currently used are –

1. Sustainable Rural Livelihood allow people to continuously and systematically build their physical, economical and social assets thereby giving them more control over their lives (CIAT).

2. Livelihood Security means ‘secure ownership of, or access to, resources and income-generating activities, including reserves and assets to offset risk, ease shocks and meet contingencies’ (Chambers 1988) Thus, it is livelihood security, rather than just food security, that is the focus of rural households because achievement of food security is just one of the objectives of livelihood security (Maxwell and Smith 1995).

3. Sustainable livelihood, when it can cope with and recover from the stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future without undermining the natural resource base (Chambers & Conway, 1988) and (4) Household livelihood security which is defined as adequate and sustainable access to income and resources to meet basic needs (Franken Berger 1996).

 There are four stages of Livelihood approach which is extended to

1. Livelihood promotion (sustainable development), which is to improve the resilience of household livelihoods to meet basic needs on a sustainable basis.

2. Livelihood protection (mitigation), involves rehabilitation in the middle range of the relief-to-development continuum.

3. Livelihood provisioning (emergency response) saves human life and protects adequate health and nutritional status, addressing the immediate symptoms of livelihood insecurity

4. Livelihood recovery (rehabilitation) protects and promotes the livelihoods of people enduring or recovering from emergencies with the purpose of providing short-term income transfers, rebuild household and community assets and rebuild institutions.

There are lots of works done at abroad on Sustainable Livelihood which include IFAD’s intervention in many African and South Asian Countries with community participatory approach. The INTERFISH project in Bangladesh; FAO’s PUCD project in Bolivia, Burundi, Nepal, Pakistan and Tunisia; Soil and water conservation in the Ehhiopian highlands in Ethiopia; FAO project ‘Lempirasur’ in Honduras; Sustainable livelihood program in Malawi; Segou Village Development fund program in Mali; Ahangai Rural Poverty Alleviation project in Mongolia; and Improving household food security and nutrition in Luapula valley in Zambia. Several World Bank’s project across the world is also addressing the development of sustainable livelihood issues.

International Fund for Agricultural Development has intervened in North East, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu for development of sustainable livelihood at community and household level. Several international organizations like Oxfam, CARE, World Bank, UNDP has done extensive work on development of livelihood in India. National Watershed Development Project which has been conducted in India for several years is bringing visible impact in this line. Extensive research on Farming System had been conducted by ICAR and State Agricultural Universities of the country also in the line of development of important research findings, sustainable farming model which has shown encouraging results at farmer’s field.