Research Areas
Eight Villages, Andhra Pradesh, India
The focus of the study are eight villages with high indicators of poverty and livelihoods reliant on rainfed agriculture. Data collection is ongoing in six villages in the drought-prone districts of Ananthapur and Mahboobnagar as well as two villages in the flood-prone coastal district of Srikakulam.
NOAA Satellite image from FAO India Country Profile
Study Participants
The villages are each composed of between 200 and 400 households. The men and women farmers participating in the study have land holdings of 2.5 – 5 acres and are above 35 years old; the large majority of land owners are men. The study participants rely primarily on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security, but increasingly seasonal migration, loans, and government-funded programmes are adopted as livelihood strategies and to ensure food security. The major crops grown include paddy, ground nut, red gram, castor, jowar, sesame and green gram.
© E. L. F. Schipper