ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to understand the relationship between livelihood diversification strategy and technology access across farmer households in rural India. The chapter makes use of NSSO unit-level data to fulfil the objective at hand. The argument is that unequal income distribution is intensified if wealthy farmers accept profitable innovations while poor farmers do not, and such adoption patterns have been observed in some areas around the world. It has been suggested that one cause of this is the unwillingness and inability of poorer farmers to bear the risks associated with innovation. Livelihood diversification strategy has been suggested as a measure to offset these risks. Livelihood diversification can do it in two ways: first, to increase household incomes; and second, to minimize risks of livelihood failure. It would be expected that the small growers who have maintained more diverse portfolios are likely to adopt new innovations, thereby having better well-being as compared to those who have maintained less diverse portfolios. The results generally confirm our hypothesis that the households that are able to adopt new technological innovations at the farm level have more chances to have multiple livelihood portfolios. Eventually, this leads to improving the overall quality of households. The analysis suggests that there is a need to create a favourable environment for dynamic diversification of the rural economy in the country and across zones as well.
