Family Farming Efficiency and Livelihood Security

The declaration of the 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming by United Nations as it reflects a growing global consensus that family farming is key to feeding a global population that is expected to reach more than nine billion people by 2050.The national problems like environmental degradation, groundwater contamination, climate change and prolonged dry spells affecting farming activities and hence, male members in the family are migrating from rural areas in search for jobs. In India, agriculture is largely house hold enterprise and women are major producer of food, since they are involving more in agriculture and allied activities than men in rural areas and in some cases households are being managed by women alone. The portion of women headed households in India has been rising in South and East India than other regions from two decades. Women headed households practicing the family farming therefore assumes the greater importance for sound management of farm resources to enhance the farm productivity and reduce the environmental degradation, improve the quality of life of resource poor farmers and to maintain sustainability.