Economic diversification and prospects for sustainable rural livelihoods in a dryland agrarian village: A case study in Bijapur District Karnataka, India

India is among the world's fastest growing economies, but the Indian agriculture sector is still the largest source of employment in rural areas. Concerns regarding the weakened agrarian sector, ominous population growth, and intensified pressure on the natural resources base have prompted the Indian government to seek strategies that will boost agricultural productivity, reduce poverty, and improve the socioeconomic conditions of farmers. However, in the new paradigm for agricultural development, strategies must incorporate plans for sustainable solutions thereby closely linking goals of environmental sustainability with social and economic goals for present and future generations. Indeed, a shift in thinking has markedly evolved to such an approach with the holistic and people-centric concept of sustainable livelihoods. Sustainable livelihood approaches encompass the notion that initiatives must build on people's assets, knowledge, and capacities, which can be understood within their local context.;This research then, takes top-down ideas for economic diversification into an agrarian village for a bottom-up perspective from the rural poor for a consideration of prospective diversification strategies as sustainable livelihood alternatives. Relying on methods drawn from Participatory Rural Appraisal and Rapid Rural Appraisal such as participant observation, mini-questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, secondary data sources, and mapping, the study explored the following objectives: (1) to explore the local context and livelihoods of poor and landless farmers; (2) to understand the characteristics of the local agricultural production environment; (3) to identify farm activities, from the farmers' perspective, that might help or hinder agricultural productivity and long-term sustainability; (4) to share and explore prospective diversification activities with farmers; and (5) to consider the feasibility and sustainability of favored diversification activities discussed, given the local context. The perspectives from the residents of Byalal Village in the dryland region of Bijapur District, Karnataka, India, were considered in the research.;The research indicates that economic diversification into activities - especially nonfarm activities - that do not heavily rely on local natural capital inputs may offer the best prospects for poverty reduction and sustainable livelihood outcomes for villagers, given the local agro-ecological potential and socioeconomic context. The future prospects for sustainable livelihood outcomes through diversification are optimal for several reasons: there is a strong interest by locals (including seasonal migrants) to diversify income-generating activity locally for household livelihood security, there is evidence that some diversified households in Byalal have a more secured livelihood than non-diversified households, and there are local external supporting institutions that have the expertise in region-appropriate skills and technologies to facilitate diversification interventions. However, the local interest to diversify is not matched by their local capacity. There is a clear need for a scaling-up of local external institutions and linkages (farm extension and training programs and financial institutions, in particular) to strengthen the local capacity to diversify by removing barriers to entry for poor households and providing sustainable encouragement and support. The research also found that poor households in Byalal included households from all socioeconomic classifications in the village, which implies that the narrow focus of future diversification initiatives for farmers may be exclusive of other groups in the village who may also benefit from diversification. A number of complex and interrelated micro and macro processes were identified in the research that will likely influence livelihood outcomes from diversification. For example, traditional and cultural norms such as gender inequities in access to resources and divisions of labor, male alcoholism, and discrimination against widows and lower castes are potential limiting factors to sustainable livelihood outcomes from diversification. Other influences to be considered for sustainable outcomes from diversification include access to capital assets for poor households (i.e. physical, financial, social, human, and natural capital), land availability/limits to uptake new activities, scale of production of new activities as income alternatives, the role of Hinduism in household economic decision-making, market roles in a traditional barter economy, generational differences in livelihood goals, and the macro-political context of India. Future diversification interventions must commit to a long-term collaboration between villagers and supporting institutions for a sustainable, effective economic plan that is inclusive of the ecological and social dynamics of farming villages.;Economic diversification is recognized by the Indian government as a poverty reduction strategy for improving socioeconomic conditions of poor farmers and stabilizing agrarian village economies by promoting households to engage in alternative choices in the farm and nonfarm labor market for income sourced from diversified sources. The underlying rationale for diversification is that the adoption of new income-generating activities might reduce farmers' vulnerability when crops fail and improve livelihoods by reducing dependency on migration and external support for subsistence.