IWMP-3 - Commissionerate of Rural Development Gujarat State ...

DWDU, Rajkot
Livelihood Intervention
Promotion of micro-enterprises and various income generation activities is an important aspect of empowerment. Although it is extremely
difficult to find remunerative self employment, there are enormous untapped opportunities in the rural sector. These include both on-farm
and off-farm opportunities. Typically families living below poverty line, SC, ST and landless in a cluster of villages are motivated to take
part in holistic development through livelihood opportunities through multidisciplinary interventions.
Advantages of Agro-Based Activities: While promoting various income generation activities, agro-based activities have advantages
because of the following reasons:
1. Target groups are acquainted with most of the basic skills.
2. Easy access to inputs.
3. No problems of marketing, as most of the outputs are locally consumed as food.
4. As over 50-60 % of the rural families own land and livestock, income generation activities can be initiated immediately without heavy
capital investment.
5. Risk of failure due to improper technology, poor quality, low demand and poor price recovery are very low. Hence, the chances of
success are high.
6. Infrastructure required for promotion of on-farm activities has been very well established. Hence, the entrepreneurs can progress even in
backward regions, which are deprived of regular power supply and electronic information connectivity. It is therefore advantageous to tap
all the opportunities to promote various on-farm activities. The experience has confirmed that the best strategy to promote income
generation activities through SHGs is to analyze the on-going agro-based activities undertaken by the members and introduce suitable
interventions to enhance the production. There are also excellent opportunities to improve post production management of the produce
through grading, storage, processing and marketing.
Detailed Project Report: IWMP-III 107