Exploring The Level of Livelihood Security of The Farmers Adopted Integrated Farming System in West Bengal

Abstract

The present study was conducted at three blocks of Cooch Behar district in West Bengal due to the availability of farmers adopted the Integrated farming system for securing their livelihoods. A multistage, purposive and random sampling methods were followed in case of selecting the respondents for the present study. A structured interview schedule was prepared and personal interview method was used for data collection. A total of 175 farmers taken for the study who adopted Integrated Farming System for securing their livelihood. Level of livelihood security was taken as dependent variable and other 21 independent variables were considered for the study to explore the relational dispositions. The study revealed that majority of the farmers (57.14 %) were in the category of medium level of livelihood security followed by high level (24.00%) and low level of livelihood security (18.86%). The independent variables education, family education status, occupation, annual family income, annual family expenditure, land holding, irrigation facilities, material possession, animal possession, credit seeking behaviour, information seeking behaviour, social participation, scientifi c orientation, economic orientation, innovativeness and management effi ciency had shown positive and signifi cant association with the livelihood security and only the variable material possession had shown positively and signifi cantly contributing towards characterising the dependent variable, level of livelihood security.