In many developing countries there is a strong need for better utilization of the agro-economic potential of flood plains to provide scope for reducing people’s vulnerability and providing enhanced opportunities for food and livelihood securities to the flood affected people.
The sense of insecurity arising out of the high risks due to recurrence of floods in flood prone but fertile plains dissuades farmers from making long-term investments in farming. It also dissuades other investors, including government agencies, from making investment in infrastructural projects. From this point of view “flood is an inhibiting factor in the process of agricultural growth of areas subject to frequent flooding”.
Consequently, without flood management actions both structural and non-structural, flood prone areas receive low levels of investment in both the farming and non-farming sectors. Better utilization of best managed flood plain protection can reduce poverty and improve quality of life thereby reducing the vulnerability of the people.