TRIBAL LIVELIHOODS

Objectives

To understand the traditional pattern of livelihood of tribal communities in the village

To find out the changing pattern of livelihoods and their coping mechanism

LOCATION

Located under Odiapentha gram panchayat in Laxmipur block of

Koraput district.

54 kms from Koraput and 373 kms from Bhubaneshwar.

Koraput district in Odisha Laxmipur block in Koraput district

Data Collection

Sources

PRA

Non-government institution

records

Semi-structured interview

Survey questionnaire

FGD

30 HH

Birigudavillage

10 HH

Pardiguda

10 HH

Birigudacolony

10 HH

Sampling

9

landless

s

Traditional Pattern of Livelihood

People totally dependent on forests for their livelihood

Traditional livelihood system was based on shifting cultivation and collection of edible forest produce

Shifting cultivation was widely practiced. It was done collectively by the villagers. Hunting was also prevalent.

When shifting cultivation began to decline, tribals took to settled agriculture mainly on the uplands

In social terms, the traditional livelihood system was based on customary rights of tribal communities over land and forests. People did not have any sort of legal documents for their land. They considered the entire village to be their land.

Changes came about during the 1970’s. The incident that marked the transition was when the Biriguda colony was established in 1976 from the Biriguda village. 45 villagers of the village got houses under the Integrated Tribal Housing Development scheme, along with 2 acres of land.

Shifting cultivation was still practiced though , but it gradually decreased in the coming decades with people moving to settled agriculture. It finally came to an end in the year 2005.

Reasons for decrease in shifting cultivation:

•Growth of population•Restricted government policies•Deforestation & land degradation•Availability of viable livelihood alternatives

Present situation

5 major livelihood patterns:

Farm ForestWageBusiness/

Service Migration

55%28%

7%5% 5%

Livelihood patterns

Farm based Wage based

Forest based Migration based

Business/ Service based

Source-Sample survey

Distribution of primary activities

S.N Primary

livelihoo

d

Farming Wage Forest Service/

Business

Migration

1

A

B

2

3

4

5

Secondar

y

Livelihood

Farming

Crop

Productio

n

Animal

Husbandr

y

Wage

Forest

Service/

Business

Migration

based

-

-

-

98

31

83

31

46.8

93

-

49

0

54

17.47

2

2

-

17

15

15.22

5

12.5

-

0

12.96

7.5

-

Distribution of secondary activities

Source-Sample survey

Vulnerability

A large number of families are landless, espicially in Biriguda colony where only 45

HHs out of total 106 HHs have “patta” land or legal documents for their land

Land acquisition by Aditya Birla group

23, 16%

95, 65%

13, 9%14, 10%

Vulnerability

Women HH

Landless

Old Men HH

Handicap

Source-NGO records

Landless

• Labourer• Sharecropper • Skill based work

like masonry, carpentry, driving, etc.

• Seasonal migration • Diversification • Goat rearing

Women HH

• Labourer• Small

business like selling bangles, dry fish,etc

• Goat rearing • Pension/

compensation

Old Man HH

• Pension • Lease their

land • Goat rearing

Coping strategies of the vulnerable

Reflections

Widespread poverty in terms of food , income as well as a deprivation of facilities.

Alcoholism eating into significant portion of income, reducing overall consumption of HH & impacting health

Encroachment of forest land

Education not given adequate importance

NTFP and tribal tourism can be good alternative sources of livelihood

Government presence has been minimal in terms of providing employment opportunities