Livestock and transitional poverty in rural India

Abstract

With high economic growth, poverty in India has declined from 35 per cent in1993-94 to 22 per cent in 2011-2012, and further to 10 per cent in 2020-21. The majority of poor reside in the rural regions for whom agriculture is the main source of livelihood. The growth in agriculture has been identified more pro-poor than the growth in other economic sectors. The livestock is an important component of agriculture, and its contribution to agricultural gross domestic product has been growing faster than the overall agricultural growth. The reduction in rural poverty is driven by the growth in livestock. Nevertheless, the evidence on the relationship between livestock and poverty is scarce. Using a panel data on 28205 households, this paper assesses the impact of livestock on the rural poverty. The findings show that ownership of livestock, specifically bovine, significantly contributes to poverty reduction in rural India.