TARGETING THE CO-EXISTANCE OF ECOLOGICAL AND INCOME POVERTY: A STUDY BASED ON WASTELAND MAPPING IN INDIA

Sanjay K Srivastava sanjay@isro.org

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN INDIA A HOPE OR HYPE ???

Poverty in India
(in Million)

Poor % Population

1990s 320 36

2000 260 19

Poverty- geographical profile Central North East West

Who will feed India ? small and marginal farmers

(FAO/RAP- 2001)

1999-00 1983-84

South 0 20 40 60

Millions of poor, malnourished and food insecure population cannot be the foot soldiers fighting the Combating poverty Empowering people cause of sustainable agriculture

% of population below poverty line

Strategy:

Using core competence in science & technology including space applications Setting ecological integrity

WASTELAND ATLAS OF INDIA

On 1:50,000 scale digital at village/micro-watershed level

Total wasteland : 63.8 Mha Cultivable wasteland: 45 Mha

Looking Beyond wasteland mapping..Poverty Trap ..

Source: Wasteland Atlas of India NRSA 2000

POSSIBLE LINKAGES
POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE

Income Poverty
Ecological Poverty

Marginal Agri. Land

They are often visible in proximity to each other highlighting the direct link between the two ?

POSSIBLE LINKAGES
FOOD INSECURE POPULATION

Ecological Poverty

Depth of Hunger

Marginal Agri. Land

AREA (sq. km.) Area > 30% = 5,67,525 Area 5 - 30% = 2,29,080

Does Ecological and Income Poverty Co-exists? No

Bihar, for example, is characterized by just 6 % wastelands with 57% population below poverty line. o Jharkhand, with 19% wastelands, has got more than 60% population below poverty line.

70
60 50 40 30 Bihar Assam Maharastr a

o Uttar Pradesh has 9% wastelands with more than 44% population below poverty line.
o Similarly, West Bengal with just over 6 % wastelands has got more than 40 % population below poverty line.
R2 = 0.0167

Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh

HP

20
10 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

% Waste land

Does Ecological and Income For example, Assam with more than 25 % wastelands has got more than 45 % population below poverty line. Poverty Similarly, Rajasthan is characterized by more than 30 % Co-exists? wastelands and 26 % incidence of poverty. Yes On the other hand, there are States like Punjab with just 4%
70 60 50 40 30 Bihar Assam Maharastr a

wastelands and 11% population below poverty line, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Gujarat etc.

R2 = 0.0167

Rajasthan
Andhra Pradesh

HP

20 10
0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 % Waste land

ECOLOGICAL AND INCOME POVERTY DYNAMICS

Role of economic policies and interventions in altering the relationship
Natural Resources
Labour & Capital Flow/Mobility Spatial Integration of Economic activities New Lively hood opportunities

Powerlessness of poor to gain access or use available natural resources

Interventions Program, Technology

Institutional/ Social Factor

Incidence of Poverty

Inequitable access land, Information, market and credit

Databases on relationship to examine the direction of policies/interventions?

Government Spending, Growth, and Poverty in Rural India

Percent
8
6 4 2 Increase in productivity Poverty reduction

Persons
160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 R&D Road Irrigation EducationPower Rural Dev. Soil & Water Health

Number of people moved out of poverty as a result of additional Rs.1Million spending by Government

0
-0.2 -0.4 -0.6

-0.8
-1.0
R&D

Increase in growth of productivity and reduction in poverty as result of Government expenditure

Road Irrigation EducationPower Rural Dev. Soil & Water Health

Source: IFPRI Report, 1999

Government Policy and Programme towards Poverty Reduction

Self Employment Programme Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana Synergy and Convergence of (IRDP, TRYSEM, DWCRA and MWS) Wage Employment Programme Jawahar Gram Samiti Yojana (JGSY) Employment Assurance Scheme Infrastructure Development Programme Indira Awas Jojana Pradhan Mantri Gramadaya Yojana Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Rural Electrification National Social Assistance Programme National Maternity Benefits Scheme National Old Age Pension Scheme Annapurna Micro finance- NABARD, SHG linkages

REACHING OUT DOWN THE LINE???

Whether the various policies & interventions are well-targeted, and addressing poverty alleviation and natural resources development? Do they allow the economic and spatial integration of poor and marginalized to market forces to happen ? Are they opening up new marginal income earning opportunities in the informal sector of economy ? Did they succeed in reducing their dependence on natural resource base for livelihoods?

Rural Infrastructure Index (%)

Economic & Spatial Integration to Market Forces

120
R2 = 0.50 Bihar W. Bengal

80

40

Maharastra
HP 0 0 20 40 60 80

120 100 Rural infrastructure 80 60 Bihar Assam

Population Below Poverty Line (%) The spatial dynamics of poverty seem to be influenced by the rural infrastructure, availability of transport links, and the growth of production and consumption linkages. Bihar, West Bengal .. need investments in rural infrastructure towards poverty reduction, while Maharastra, HP..need other priority 50 60

Rajasthan 40 20 0 0 10 20 30 40 Wasteland (%) Andhra Pradesh Maharastra

Policy Interventions towards Food Security

On contrary, Kerala and Bihar, both being also highly food insecure States need to have interventions in other areas for poverty alleviation, as wastelands are quite low in these States, 5 Deficit in food production (ratio) Kerala 4 3 2 1 0 0 10 20 30 % of wasteland 40 50 60 Jharkhand Jharkhand, Assam, Rajasthan .. wasteland to be put to use towards income generation, employment creation.. The interventions in food secured States Punjab, Chattisgarh, Himanchal, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka need to be focused on off-farm income generation.

Bihar

Maharastra

Assam

Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh

Disaggregated Poverty Mapping

Regression coefficient (R square) between incidence of poverty and wastelands increased from 0.0167 at State levels to as good as around 0.5 for quite a few States at the district level.

Incidence of Poverty (% poor)

70 60 50 Adilabad

It may increase further at village level and thus calling for dis-aggregated wasteland mapping to establish closer linkages with incidence of poverty. Chittor

40
30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Wasteland % East Godavari

R2 = 0.26

Wasteland mapping could be used to examine the impact of policies and interventions towards poverty reduction,

In a typical state, the focus should be on spatial integration of rural poor to the market forces and creation of alternate livelihood systems,
Evolving the economic policy instruments which could lead to substantial poverty reduction as well as enrichment of natural resources base. For micro-level interventions, disaggregated poverty mapping depicting the relationship between ecological and income poverty is called for.

He and She are poor; Not because they are borne so; In fact, it is the failure of the institutions, polices and programme that they continue to be poor and marginalized.
- A Perception