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Quantifying Farm Household Resilience and the Implications of Livelihood Heterogeneity in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/11979/
https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12040466
doi:10.3390/agriculture12040466
 
Title Quantifying Farm Household Resilience and the Implications of Livelihood Heterogeneity in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India
 
Creator Ramilan, T
Shalander, K
Haileslassie, A
Craufurd, P
Scrimgeour, F
Kattarkandi, B
Whitbread, A M
 
Subject Livelihoods
Semi-Arid Tropics
Farming Systems
 
Description The vast majority of farmers in the drylands are resource-poor smallholders, whose livelihoods
depend heavily on their farming systems. Therefore, increasing the resilience of these smallholders
is vital for their prosperity. This study quantified household resilience and identified livelihoods
and their influence on resilience in the semiarid tropics of India by analysing 684 households.
A resilience capacity index was devised based on the composition of household food and non-food
expenditure, cash savings, and food and feed reserves. The index ranged from 8.4 reflecting highly
resilient households with access to irrigation characteristics, to -3.7 for households with highly limited
resilience and low household assets. The livelihoods were identified through multivariate analysis
on selected socioeconomic and biophysical variables; households were heterogeneous in their
livelihoods. Irrigated livestock and rainfed marginal types had the highest and lowest resilience
capacity index with the mean score of 0.69 and −1.07, respectively. Finally, we quantified the influence
of livelihood strategies on household resilience. Household resilience was strengthened by the
possession of livestock, crop diversification and access to irrigation. Low resilience is predominantly
caused by low household assets. The resilience capacity index and derived livelihood strategies
helps to understand the complexity of household resilience, and will aid in targeting technology
interventions for development.
 
Publisher MDPI
 
Date 2022-03
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/11979/1/agriculture-Resilience%20typologies.pdf
Ramilan, T and Shalander, K and Haileslassie, A and Craufurd, P and Scrimgeour, F and Kattarkandi, B and Whitbread, A M (2022) Quantifying Farm Household Resilience and the Implications of Livelihood Heterogeneity in the Semi-Arid Tropics of India. Agriculture (TSI), 12 (4). pp. 1-16. ISSN 2077-0472