Abstract:
Nearly 70 percent of total population living in rural areas depends
completely or partially on agriculture sector. Sri Lanka has made great
strides in the sphere of agricultural development in general and paddy
cultivation in particular. The main objective of the study is to examine
income, consumption pattern and economic status of paddy farming
households in the study area. Primary data related to the year 2009-2010
were collected from 280 paddy farmers from four types of paddy cultivation
groups. Food ratios for all farming households are more than 50 percent of
their total expenditure. Further, the average loan per household and per
capita indebtedness, followed by the interest payments for the loans of the
paddy farmers, is extremely higher. On the other hand, it is noteworthy to
point out that the expenditure, income and debt are higher to all categories
of paddy farmers. Hence, policy makers should pay attention to increase
their income especially from paddy cultivation and also to raise purchasing
power of paddy farming community in Sri Lanka.
