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.
