On account of agriculture being overcrowded, a major part of the population calls for alternate employment opportunities in the other non-farm sector. These include the agro-processing industries, food processing industries, leather industry, tourism etc. Majority of the rural women are employed in agriculture but it is the men who take to non-farm jobs like Animal Husbandry' based on mixed crop-livestock farming system.

• Fisheries.
• Horticulture On account of bounties of nature, we find India has taken to the growing of various crops such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, plants-medicinal and aromatic, spices and plantation crops.

Economic conditions of many farmers engaged in horticulture has become better-off. Many areas of production in horticulture are very lucrative employment options for women in rural India.

• Another important area which offers livelihood option is the Information Technology (IT) sector, which has succeeded in revolutionising many sectors of our economy.
• IT sector disseminates information regarding emerging technologies and their application to rural development. This proves beneficial for the rural development, in particular and economic development at large.