Impact of internal displacement on agricultural livelihoods: evidence from Sampur, Sri Lanka

This paper examines the impact of internal displacement on agricultural livelihoods. Household data used in the paper were collected from welfare camps in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka, where the internally displaced persons from the village of Sampur were encamped. The field work was done in 2007 and 2008. As expected, displacement has had a statistically significant negative impact on their livelihoods. Agriculture-based livelihoods were special because these were the most affected and also because their subcategories - farming, livestock farming and fishing - had been affected differently. We were able to link these differences with the degree of dependence of livelihoods on immovable assets owned either as private property (paddy land) or as common property (sea). The abruptness and the life-threatening nature of conflict displacement had also affected assets like livestock, and agricultural equipment, which are normally mobile. The analysis is based on the Department for International Development - sustainable livelihoods framework.