Rupak Goswami

Sustainability assessment of smallholder farms in developing countries

ABSTRACT Smallholder farms in developing countries are key to global food security and sustainability of agricultural systems. Suitable tools are needed to assess the utility of these systems for long-term policy interventions. We outline the development of a sustainability index for smallholder systems by amalgamating ecological frameworks and sustainable livelihood framework. We critically describe the process involved in the development of the indicator framework, selection of indicators, their measurement and assignment of weight, and aggregation to arrive at a composite index. A practical tool based on this index may prove helpful for long-term sustainability assessment in smallholder farms of developing countries.

Multifunctional Role of Integrated Farming System in Developing Countries

Agro-ecological practices, including integration within farming systems, have increasingly been acknowledged as key development alternative to safeguard rural people’s basic needs. It also enhances farmers’ socio-ecological capacities to sustain livelihoods. This paper explores the multidimensional nature of agro-ecological practices and takes stock of its multiple outcomes in smallholder systems of developing countries. Literatures suggest that farmers’ foremost concern is to meet their socio-economic, cultural and ecological needs in addition to combating multiple adversities caused by biotic and abiotic stresses. This asks for planned integration among the components in small farms leading to reduced stress and multiple benefits to the farm households.Integration among the components of farming system are often employed as a livelihood strategy in small farms and it plays a pivotal role in meeting the multidimensional needs of the farm family such as food security, risk reduction, income and employment, biodiversity, carbon storage and energy efficiency in farm. Public extension must appreciate IFS as a socio-ecological intervention, instead of a technology, to achieve varied desirable socio-economic-ecological outcomes.

Construction of gender sensitive poverty line based on local perception: Evidence from Habra-II Block of West Bengal state in India

Abstract This study employs participatory well-being ranking (PWBR) exercise with men and women separately for generating gendered poverty line in Habra-II Block of West Bengal state of India. Men and women differ in a number of themes related to the experience of poverty. We quantify the gender disaggregated qualitative information collected through PWBR from eight village segments to arrive at poverty lines, followed by the generation of poverty statistics. Women and men differ in a number of themes related to poverty. Women use land, house type, dependent in the family, occupation and infrastructure to characterize poor households, and men use sanitation, business, land holding, farming, and occupations for the same. The differential gender perception results in different poverty lines and poverty statistics for men and women in most of the study villages. For most of the study villages women generated higher number of below poverty line households than men.

Resource integration in smallholder farms for sustainable livelihoods in developing countries

Abstract The need for sustainable agricultural advancements remain at the forefront of global development practices, with smallholder farms emerging as an essential factor in creating long-lasting improvements in food security, enhanced nutrition, and economic development. Sustainable intensification and diversification in small farms can achieve these outcomes and often take the form of integration among farm resources to achieve sustainable livelihood. However, such integration is promoted in the form of integrated farming system (IFS) models as a single farm innovation for the smallholder systems of developing countries without considering the heterogeneity and priorities of farm families. Using the sustainable livelihoods (SL) framework, we propose a modified model for IFS promotion, particularly applicable for developing nations. The model modifies the standard SL model and illustrates how, based on the resources and vulnerabilities of small farms, IFS needs to be customised to achieve multifunctional benefits for smallholder farmers depending on the locations. It should first integrate the available assets of a farm, and then consider the micro-intervention that are strategically designed in a conscious livelihood based on their socioeconomic, bio-physical, political, and cultural situations. The goal of this article is to achieve multiple desirable livelihood outcomes at farm and community levels. This conceptualisation should help to develop IFS models based on local resources and farmers’ priorities that become more flexible than rigid.

Construction of Gender Sensitive Poverty Line Based on Local Perception: Evidence from Rural India

This study employed participatory well-being ranking (PWBR) exercise with men and women separately for generating gendered poverty line in West Bengal state of India. Men and women differed in a number of themes related to the experience of poverty. The gender disaggregated qualitative information collected through PWBR from eight village segments of North 24 Parganas district of India was quantified to arrive at poverty lines followed by the generation of poverty statistics. The differential gender perception resulted in different poverty statistics for men and women.

How Does Information Network Affect Spread of New Crops? A Study on the Spread of Chilli and Wheat Cultivation Among Farmers of Purulia District, West Bengal, India

Adoption research for many years has considered individual farmer as the basis of analysis, whereas the effect of networks governing a farmer’s decision-making has received limited attention. Moreover, the spread of technology over different generation of adopters has not been addressed adequately. Hence, farmers’ position within the agricultural information networks and their adoption decision, may be used to formulate some lower order propositions regarding the diffusion of agricultural innovations within networks. The present study was conducted at Purulia District in West Bengal, India, to study the spread of Chilli (Capsicum annum) and Wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivation among the farmers of selected villages. Case study method and focused group discussion were used to track this spread over different generations of adopters. Data collected through structured questionnaire was analysed by sociometric technique and network score of farmers in the agricultural information network was computed. The fractional ranking of network scores of farmers was compared with their relative earliness in the spread of Chilli and Wheat cultivation. It was found that both in the spread of Chilli and Wheat cultivation, most of the farmers who had higher network scores were earlier adopters of Chilli and Wheat cultivation practices but the reverse was not true. This indicated the complex relations between farmers’ adoption-decision regarding new crops and their network positions. Further empirical research will be required to put light on this observation.