The study was undertaken in Chikkaballapur and Dharwad districts of Karnataka state to assess the livelihood security of farm households and the extent of utilization of benefits from Government development programs under irrigated and rainfed situations. Eight major farming systems were identified based on a preliminary survey and previous studies in the area under study, viz, crop+dairy, crop+sericulture, crop+dairy+sericulture and crop+sheep in Chikkaballapur district and crop+dairy, crop+dairy +sheep, crop+dairy+poultry and crop+sheep in Dharwad district. The study is based on primary data from 240 farmers covering equal samples under irrigated and rainfed situation elicited for the period 2012-13 through survey method. The data were analyzed using tabular presentation, returns to rupee of investment, optimization of farming using linear programming analysis, minimization of total absolute deviation (MOTAD) technique and regression model. The results revealed that, the livelihood security was better among irrigated area farmers in the area under study.