IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v27y2025i2d10.1007_s10668-023-04097-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating sustainable agricultural livelihood security in West Bengal, India: a principal component analysis approach

Author

Listed:
  • Shibu Das

    (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

  • Kaushal Kumar Sharma

    (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

  • Suranjan Majumder

    (University of North Bengal)

  • Indrajit Roy Chowdhury

    (University of North Bengal)

Abstract

This study undertook an examination of livelihood security in West Bengal, a predominantly agriculture-based region situated in eastern India. Our investigation centred around the Sustainable Agriculture Livelihood Security Index (SALSI), which integrates four fundamental dimensions: ecological security index (ESI), economic efficiency index (EEI), infrastructure sufficiency index (ISI) and social equity index (SEI), and represented a total of 36 diverse indicators associated with these SALSI. We employed the “non-dimensionalization” approach to quantify the aforementioned dimensions. Principal component analysis was then employed to discern the pivotal indicators associated with each component of the SALSI. The study unveiled notable inter-district spatial variations in the four facets of the SALSI. Notably, Paschim Medinipur achieved the highest SALSI score at 0.60, while Jalpaiguri recorded the lowest at 0.35. Among the sub-components, ESI emerged as the strongest with a score of 0.57, surpassing EEI (0.52), ISI (0.36) and SEI (0.46). Remarkably, Purulia, Jalpaiguri and Uttar Dinajpur districts exhibited a notably limited level of sustainability in their agriculture-based livelihoods. In contrast, North 24 Parganas, Birbhum, Uttar Dinajpur, Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur and Bardhaman demonstrated a high degree of sustainability in their agricultural livelihoods. These findings offer valuable insights to inform policymakers and relevant stakeholders, facilitating the transformation of districts with low sustainability levels into regions with moderate and high agricultural sustainability through the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies. The methodology presented in this study can be effectively applied across varying scales in other regions within India and in similar contexts in other developing nations. Graphical abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Shibu Das & Kaushal Kumar Sharma & Suranjan Majumder & Indrajit Roy Chowdhury, 2025. "Evaluating sustainable agricultural livelihood security in West Bengal, India: a principal component analysis approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 4769-4816, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04097-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-04097-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-023-04097-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-023-04097-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:27:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10668-023-04097-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.