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Farmers’ Distress Index: An Approach for an Action Plan to Reduce Vulnerability in the Drylands of India

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  • Reddy, A. Amarender
  • Bhattacharya, Anindita
  • Reddy, S. Venku
  • Ricart, Sandra

Abstract

Farmer distress is a widely recognized problem in India induced by multiple causes ranging from climate variability to price volatility and the low risk-bearing ability of farmers. Tracking farmers’ distress in a localized context is a prerequisite for timely action to provide sustainable livelihood options. Therefore, a field survey was conducted with 640 dryland farmers of 10 sub-district units from two states in India with the aim to identify the major indicators based on seven dimensions of distress and to construct a multidimensional Farmers’ Distress Index (FDI) at the farmer and sub-district levels. The FDI was built with seven dimensions of distress: exposure to risk, adaptive capacity, sensitivity, mitigation and adaptation strategies, triggers, psychological factors, and impacts. The study developed a broad-based FDI which can be used as a planning tool that can address the causes of farmers’ distress and also evolve measures to tackle those causes. Based on the result, the study recommends a location-specific distress management package based on various dimensions of the FDI. The paper also suggests an upscaling strategy to identify and prioritize the highly distressed farmers as well as sub-district geographical units by tracking a few sets of variables.

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  • Reddy, A. Amarender & Bhattacharya, Anindita & Reddy, S. Venku & Ricart, Sandra, 2021. "Farmers’ Distress Index: An Approach for an Action Plan to Reduce Vulnerability in the Drylands of India," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(11), pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:273430
    DOI: 10.3390/land10111236
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    Cited by:

    1. Srijita Ghosh & Kausik Gupta, 2023. "Dynamic Analysis of Watershed Management and Sustainable Agriculture in Dryland Regions: A Case Study of Purulia District, West Bengal," Review of Development and Change, , vol. 28(2), pages 207-244, December.
    2. Abiodun A. Ogundeji, 2022. "Adaptation to Climate Change and Impact on Smallholder Farmers’ Food Security in South Africa," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, April.
    3. Diego León Peña-Orozco & María Eugenia Londoño-Escobar & Andrés Mauricio Paredes Rodríguez & Jesús Gonzalez-Feliu & Gonzalo Navarrete Meneses, 2023. "Prioritizing Public Policy Implementation for Rural Development in a Developing Country via Multicriteria Classification," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Yue Sun & Yanhui Wang & Chong Huang & Renhua Tan & Junhao Cai, 2023. "Measuring farmers’ sustainable livelihood resilience in the context of poverty alleviation: a case study from Fugong County, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    5. A. Amarender Reddy & Meghana Reddy & Vartika Mathur, 2024. "Pesticide Use, Regulation, and Policies in Indian Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-28, September.
    6. Liang Luo & Qi Nie & Yingying Jiang & Feng Luo & Jie Wei & Yong Cui, 2024. "Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Spatial Spillover Effects of Resilience in China’s Agricultural Economy," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    distress indicators; farmers; risk; income shoks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q14 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Finance
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • Q17 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agriculture in International Trade

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