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Empirical evaluation of sustainability of divergent farms in the dryland farming systems of India

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Title Empirical evaluation of sustainability of divergent farms in the dryland farming systems of India
 
Creator Haileslassie, Amare
 
Contributor Craufurd, Peter
Ramilan, Thiagarajah
Shalander, Kumar
Whitbread, Anthony
Rathore, Abhishek
Blummel, Michael
Ericksen, Polly
Krishna Reddy, Kakumanu
 
Subject relative sustainability
farm typologies
composite sustainability indices
farm function
 
Description The present study argues that there are heterogeneous farm systems within the drylands and each farm
system is unique in terms of its livelihood asset and agricultural practice, and therefore in sustainability.
Our method is based on household survey data collected from 500 farmers in Anantapur and Kurnool
Districts, in Andhra Pradesh State of India, in 2013. We carried out principal component analysis (PCA)
with subsequent hierarchical clustering methods to build farm typologies. To evaluate sustainability
across these farm typologies, we adopted a framework consisting of economic, social and environmental
sustainability pillars and associated indicators. We normalized values of target indicators and employed
normative approach to assign different weights to these indicators. Composite sustainability indices (CSI)
were then estimated by means of weighted sum of indicators, aggregated and integrated into farm typologies. The results suggested that there were five distinct farm typologies representing farming systems
in the study area. The majority of farms (>70%) in the study area are small and extensive (typology 1);
marginal and off farm based (typology 2). About 20% of the farms are irrigation based and intensive (typology 3); small and medium and off farm based (typology 4) and irrigation based semi-intensive (typology
5). There was apparent variability among farm typologies in terms of farm structure and functions and
composite sustainability indices. Farm typologies 3 and 5 showed significantly higher performances for
the social and economic indices, while typologies 2 and 4 had relatively stronger values for environment.
These discrepancies support the relevance of integrated farm typology- and CSI approaches in assessing
system sustainability and targeting technologies. Universally, for all farm typologies, composite sustainability indices for economic pillar was significantly lower than the social and environment pillars. More
than 90% of farmers were in economically less-sustainable class. The correlations between sustainability
indices for economic and environment were typology specific. It was strong and positive when aggregated for the whole study systems [all samples (r = 0.183; P < 0.001)] and for agriculture dependent farm
typologies (e.g. typologies 1 and 3). This suggests the need to elevate farms economic performance and
capacitate them to invest in the environment. These results provide information for policy makers to
plan farm typology–context technological interventions and also create baseline information to evaluate
sustainability performance in terms of progress made over time.
 
Date 2015-08-27
2016-09-20T11:17:00Z
2016-09-20T11:17:00Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier https://mel.cgiar.org/reporting/download/hash/xL8c90FG
Amare Haileslassie, Peter Craufurd, Thiagarajah Ramilan, Kumar Shalander, Anthony Whitbread, Abhishek Rathore, Michael Blummel, Polly Ericksen, Kakumanu Krishna Reddy. (27/8/2015). Empirical evaluation of sustainability of divergent farms in the dryland farming systems of India. Ecological Indicators, 60, pp. 710-723.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/4968
Limited access
 
Language en
 
Rights CC-BY-NC-4.0
 
Format PDF
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Source Ecological Indicators;60,(2015) Pagination 710,723