IWMP-11 - 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-11 127