Factors of rural chronic poverty in Sri Lanka: The case from Ridiyagama Grama Niladari Division

Abstract

As a lower-middle-income country, Sri Lanka has different types of poverty including chronic poverty. Though all the successive governments of Sri Lanka have implemented different types of poverty reduction programs and strategies, still there is chronic poverty in both urban and rural settlements. This study examines the factors of rural chronic poverty and to make possible recommendations for policymakers to eliminate rural chronic poverty in Sri Lanka. The study uses mixed-method and especially attention.on the case study method using qualitative and quantitative data. Ridiyagama Grama Niladari Division of Ambalantota Divisional Secretariat Division in the Hambantota District was selected for the study area. Hence to achieve the target, randomly selected 50 families have been interviewed with a semistructured questionnaire. Field observations focused group discussions and key informant discussions have been used to collect qualitative data. The secondary data were collected from Central Bank reports relevant books, findings of similar researches, maps, websites and databases and resource profiles of the case study area. The study has revealed that the lower education, lack of job opportunity, social stratification, undernutrition, and poor health conditions, cultural attitudes, lack of political and social strengths, dependency on government subsidies, are the main reasons of chronic rural poverty. It is essential to identify and map the chronic property clusters in the rural area and close monitoring and evaluation processes should also be introduced to eliminate rural chronic poverty.