Sustainable Rural Development and Livelihood Sources of the Rural Households in Mountainous Pakistan

Livelihoods of the rural households in the developing regions are still dependent on farm and off-farm economic activities and this approach emerged from a range of efforts to understand that how the people survive in a particular area. Empirical research conducted on this subject give diverse results in this respect. The main purpose of the present study was to analyze the livelihood sources and the level of participation of the rural household in various economic activities and their contribution towards the households’ income in northern parts of Pakistan. Primary data was collected through random sampling methods from 323 household’s head. Findings of the study reveal that the rural people are engaged in multiple economic activities including both farm (crop, livestock, forestry, rent land, agriculture wages, hiring out farm machinery, fodder and sale of fruits and vegetables) and off-farm (small-scale businesses, services, foreign and domestic remittances, and off farm wages) for their survival. The lion share of contribution towards household’s income from farm livelihood sources was the income from crops and livestock. In non-farm economic activities public/private sector employment was the major source of non-farm source of livelihood for the rural households in the research area. The average annual income per household from crops was Rs. 65,340, followed by income from forests and livestock respectively. On average, households were earning Rs. 4,33,390 per annum from these sources. The study concludes that the farm sources of income contribute more to the livelihood of the rural people than the non-farm sources of income and hence having play crucial role in the reduction of poverty. The study recommends preservation and a sustainable use of the farm resources so that to overcome the problems faced by the future generation and the creation of more nonfarm activities for sustainable livelihood.