Income Diversification of Rural Households in Punjab

This study investigated the nature and extent of income diversification of rural households across caste categories, land ownership categories, and peri-urban and peri-rural settings of Punjab along with determinants of income diversification.The study is based on primary data collected from 360 rural households.The highest share in total income of rural household came from crop farming (40.05%) followed by non-farm income (31.15%)and livestock (18.32%).Income diversity was found to be more prominent in villages located closer to urban areas.As landholding status of rural households increased, reliance on farming grew significantly, leading to a decline in income diversification towards the non-farm sector.The income for households belonging to the general caste was substantially higher than that of scheduled caste and backward caste households.The study employed the Simpson Index of Diversity (SID) to measure income diversification and the Tobit regression model to identify factors influencing income diversification.