Land-Use Strategies for Tribals: A Socio-Economic Analysis

The paper seeks to identify alternate land-use and management strategies to strengthen the livelihood base of poor marginal farmers in the dry forest peripheries of India. Land alienation, soil degradation, wild animal attacks, and declining access to forests have debilitated the livelihood base of this tribal community. Benefit cost analyses and stakeholder discussions reveal that millet-based dry farming with adoption of soil conservation or growing perennials on field bunds are economically efficient relative to current practices and enjoy stakeholder acceptance. Some other economically superior alternate land-uses are not acceptable locally, indicating the care with which tribal development policies need to be made.