Influence of climate change on agricultural sustainability in India: A state-wise panel data analysis

Sustainable livelihood security in Odisha, India: A district level analysis

The research investigated the challenges of agricultural sustainable development in Haryana by employing the Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (SLSI) as a comprehensive evaluative tool. The study integrates economic efficiency, ecological security and social equity dimensions through selected indicators and by utilizing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to eliminate spatial variations among districts. The Economic Efficiency Index (EEI) reveals distinct agricultural performances with Karnal excelling in food production and Panchkula demonstrating efficient fertilizer use. The Ecological Security Index (ESI) highlights Gurgaon’s significant land use practices and Panchkula’s determinantal to forest conservation. The Social Equity Index (SEI) advancements in female literacy and healthcare. Integrating these three indices showed that Panchkula emerges as a paragon of overall sustainability, followed closely by Karnal, Sirsa and Gurgaon. Disparities in Nuh and Faridabad addressed the necessity for targeted interventions. These study findings offered to the policymakers about the crucial insights into district-specific needs which guiding them in the formulation of strategies for inclusive growth and sustainable development for each district’s unique challenges and opportunities.

Development and application of dairy-based sustainable livelihood security index in the districts of West Bengal, India: A tool for dairy development planning

The present study estimates the district-wise sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) in Gujarat using Composite Z-score technique during 2000-2011. It considers SLSI as an integrated index of ecological security index (ESI), economic efficiency index (EEI) and social equity index (SEI). Accordingly, it applies linear and non-linear regression models to measure the impact of different climatic factors (i.e., maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation) in winter, spring, summer and autumn seasons on SLSI, ESI, EEI and SEI. It shows that SLSI, ESI, EEI and SEI are varied across districts due to high diversity in socio-economic and ecological factors, and climatic change in Gujarat. Empirical results based on linear and non-linear regression models imply that climatic factors in different weather seasons have a negative and significant impact on SLSI, ESI, EEI and SEI. So, sustainable livelihood security (SLS) would be in an alarming position due to climate change, urbanization, population growth and industrialization in Gujarat. Thus, policy makers need to adopt an effective and conducive policy to mitigate the adverse effects of those factors which have a negative impact on sustainable livelihood security. Hence, this study provides several practical and viable policy suggestions to increase the SLS in Gujarat and other Indian states.

The present study emphasizes the importance of Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (SLSI) in Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRP). This SLSI tool has the potential to identify the current sustainability condition and future needs to achieve and hold the sustainability tag. Chirrakunta Rurban Cluster is selected as a test site in this study. Three different indices viz. ecological security index (ESI), economic efficiency index (EEI), and social equity index (SEI) have been dealt with, using both spatial and nonspatial data. The selected indicators have been normalized followed by assignment of different weights to each index for computation of the final indices. By using these indices, SLSI has been estimated for each panchayat within this cluster. The results show that the only area having a very low SLSI score is Ada Panchayat which covers about 8.57% of the total area and 4.91% of the total population in this cluster and hence, it achieves the tag of Highly Sustainable (HS). The other nine panchayats that cover 75.34% of the total area and 52.38% of the total population come under Moderately Sustainable (MS) category. The remaining 16.09% of the total area and 42.71% of the total population come under Low Sustainable (LS) category in this cluster. Hence, there is an urgent need to reorient the development programmers. The investment for the development should be done on a priority basis for these vulnerable panchayats to provide them with proper resources and opportunities to ameliorate their ecological security, economic efficiency and social equity which may ascertain sustainable livelihood security to them. The regions at large require a strong and sound infrastructure to remove the deficiencies occurring at places.

The present study was carried out in Karnataka state to assess the relative agricultural sustainability status ofKarnataka during the year 2021–22 using Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (SLSI). Three indicators, viz.Ecological Security, Economic Efficiency and Social Equity Index were used. The results of the study show that inKarnataka better conditions for sustainable agriculture exist in majority of the Southern districts. However, few Northern districts, viz. Belagavi, Raichur, Bagalkote and Ballari have better level of ecological security and some Southern districts Bengaluru (U), Bengaluru (R), Chikkaballapur, Kolar and Ramanagara have low level of ecological security. In economic efficiency and social equity indicator also, majority of the Northern districts lagged behind compared to southern districts while Belagavi and Kalburgi districts have shown better performance compared to rest of the districts in the state. Adoption of sustainable agricultural practices such as judicial use of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals, efficient water use techniques (drip and sprinkler irrigation), use of organic manures and diversification of farm activities would help in sustainable agricultural development. To achieve ecological sustainability, steps need to be taken to enhance forest cover through afforestation especially in the districts which have poor ecological security. Further, there is a need to enhance the crop yield, encourage dairy farming and improve work force participation through training and skill development in the districts with poor economic efficiency.

This article analyzes spatiotemporal variation in agricultural sustainability in a backward state of Bihar. It creates a sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) for agricultural sustainability and evaluates its existing status at the block level in Vaishali district. The persistently increasing inequality, improper management of resources, natural calamities, and exponential population growth have created a significant threat to the successful development of sustainable agricultural in the study area. SLSI as a composite index of its three components of ecological security index (ESI), economic efficiency index (EEI), and social equity index (SEI) works as a powerful policy tool for identifying the necessary conditions for sustainable development of agriculture in planning and development units of Vaishali district, Bihar. SLSI-based spatiotemporal analysis revealed that there is wide variation in agricultural sustainability and its three aspects (ESI, EEI, and SEI) within blocks during 2000–2003 and 2007–2010. SLSI has also proved to be effective planning instrument for analyzing the performance and changing status of three aspects of sustainable development of agriculture in different blocks of the district. SLSI identified blocks which require immediate attention for sustainable development of agriculture (SDA) and helped to focus the priorities for attaining livelihood security. Thus, SLSI approach can best be utilized for assessing sustainable development of agriculture and creating holistic perspective of environment and socioeconomic development of the region.

The development of a method for generating Sustainable Livelihood Security Index (SLSI) for agricultural sustainability and evaluating the existing status has been reported. Some measures have been suggested to promote sustainable agriculture of Orissa. This state has been selected since it faces wide inequality, improper management and over-exploitation of natural resources and explosion of population. These have created a threat to ecological balance and economic as well as social status of households in different districts of the state. The study of Ecological Security Index (ESI), Economic Efficiency Index (EEI) and Social Equity Index (SEI) has revealed that the agricultural systems of all districts display wide variations in their ecological and social equity aspects relative to their economic aspects. The districts with better SLSI ranks are often described as advanced districts and vice versa. Hence, SLSI has been found to reflect the picture of overall performance of a district in three dimensions of sustainability. On the basis of the overall performance of districts in terms of their SLSI, only eight districts in the state have an index value of more than 0.5, while thirteen districts have SLSI less than 0.4. Also, many districts of coastal Orissa have depicted better performance in agricultural sustainability in comparison to the districts of western Orissa as a whole. Some policy implications of SLSI approach have also been reported.

This research aims to develop an ecological carrying capacity index for the ecological environment under the principle of the pressure-state-response framework model and discusses the coupling coordination of ecological environment pressure, state, and response system of the urban region in china from 2011 to 2020. Furthermore, predicated the degree of security warning for each year while establishing the ecological carrying capacity index and the urban ecological coupling model. Results specify that the coordination degree of urban ecological development in Nanchang, Jiangxi has been improved year by year, the ecological carrying capacity security index shows an upward tendency from the overall view, and the security warning degree rises from comparative insecurity to comparative security. The analysis demonstrates that in the process of national ecological civilization construction demonstration zone construction, the ecological resources and environmental policies adopted by Nanchang city have played a great role in promoting ecological security. However, the ecological security index in Nanchang is still below 0.6, far from the high-security level (0.77), and the government and the public still need to do a lot to improve ecological security.

Sustainable Livelihood Security (SLS) remains a rarely considered yet important issue for rural sustainability and natural resource management. Particularly in China, rural SLS research in a typical area is urgently needed, but insufficient under the background of National Rural Revitalization and Ten-year Fishing Ban of Yangtze River. Focusing on the policy-targeted inland lake area, we proposed a Livelihood Security Analysis (LSA) framework by establishing an adaptive indicator system and integrating multiple econometrical and geographical methods. This study aims to evaluate the SLS in Poyang Lake Eco-economic Zone comprehensively from the three aspects of ecology, economy and society, analyze their spatial patterns, identify the main constraints, and finally give specific suggestions for improving rural sustainability management. The results showed that rural SLS in the inland great lake area tended to be vulnerable mainly due to the lagging economic efficiency and unbalanced social equality, and mediated by regional ecological characteristics. The overall SLS and Ecological Security Index (ESI) were higher in the north and lower in the south, while Economic Efficiency Index (EEI) and Social Equality Index (SEI) were at the middle level and circularly distributed around Nanchang City. The dominating factors which have greatly shaped the spatial pattern of SLS include rural per capita electricity consumption, fishery breeding area, population dependency ratio, urbanization rate, and fishery population. The obstacle degree is ranked as economic system > social system > ecological system. An outdated economy and incomplete social services are the main constraints, characterized by weak electricity consumption, limited beds in hospitals, low urbanization rate, deficient agricultural machinery power, and a small agricultural output value. Therefore, one urgent need is to activate the rural economy by reinforcing rural electric power facilities and promoting agricultural mechanization. In addition, transforming the peasants/fishermen to the non-agricultural sector should be accelerated, which will help to reduce ecological pressure, boost urban-rural integration and narrow the income gap.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, where two-thirds of the rural community depend on agriculture for their employment. Sustainable agriculture, with its ability to remain productive in the long term, may help ensure food security for communities in India. This article attempts to examine agricultural sustainability among farming communities in Vaishali, India. In order to evaluate agricultural sustainability, we followed the sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) approach, which is characterized by three interacting components indices (ecological security, economic efficiency, and social equity). We collected data concerning the domains of agricultural sustainability from 959 farmers’ households. The analysis revealed that agricultural sustainability among the farmers decreased as the size of land holdings decreased. Nearly one-third of the total sampled farmers had low agricultural sustainability. Regression analysis showed that economic efficiency and social equity influenced the agricultural sustainability. The SLSI approach helped to identify priorities for attaining farmers’ agricultural sustainability.

This study shows the current scenario of sustainable livelihood security index of Allapur S Rurban cluster, located in the newly born Telengana State. Calculating economic efficiency index, ecological security index and social equity index and eventually Sustainable Livelihood Security index (SLSI) were carried out at the village levels using spatial and non-spatial data. Normalisation of the selected indicators were first done and then calculated. Results from the study indicate that the study area possesses a very low SLSI with only Narayanpur and Odandapur village which cover 11.13 per cent of the total geographical area of the cluster as sustainable and secure villages. 59.58 per cent of the geographical area and 65.83 per cent of the population are moderately sustainable category. Whereas, eight villages which accounted for 27.37 per cent population of the total cluster are under less sustainable and very less sustainable category. There is an urgent need to reorient development programmers and carry out priority-wise development investments into these vulnerable villages to provide resources and opportunities to ameliorate their ecological security, economic efficiency and social equity which further sustainable livelihood security.

Comprehensive partitions and different strategies based on ecological security and economic development in Guizhou Province, China

Due to rapid population growth, industrialization, and urbanization, it is particularly important to address the increasingly serious ecological security issues in the process of urbanization, while it is important to grasp the impact of changes in land use structure on ecological security for scientific planning and to aid decision-making. As a typical valley basin industrialized city in northwest China, Lanzhou has complex geomorphology and climate with distinct regional characteristics, and the relationship between land use and ecological security is complex. In order to understand the current status and influencing factors of ecological security in various regions of Lanzhou, and to explore the intrinsic connection between ecological security and land use, this study constructed an ecological security evaluation index system based on the pressure-state-response (PSR) model with 14 secondary factors including natural, social, and economic factors. Based on the entropy method, GIS was used to analyze the trend of ecological security in each district and to clarify the coupling relationship between ecological security and land use change in Lanzhou City. The results show that the ecological security index (ESI) of Xigu District, a typical heavy industrial area, increased from 0.26 to 0.35, and the ESI of Yuzhong County, an agricultural development area, increased from 0.51 to 0.55 from 2000 to 2017. Low ESI was mainly distributed in areas with developed heavy industry, while high ESI was mainly found in areas with favorable natural conditions and mainly agricultural development. Economic factors were the leading factors affecting the ecological security of Lanzhou. In general, changes in land use structure and ecological security were inextricably linked, and the two influence and interact with each other. These results could provide some reference for the study of ecological security development and land use change in typical river valley cities and also provide a new path for other cities to study ecological security and the conservation of the ecological environment.

This paper offers an economic analysis of agricultural sustainability in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India by calculating the sustainable livelihood security index (SLSI) of each state. The SLSI serves as an important indicator for educating farmers and other stakeholders about sustainable agriculture production. This paper focuses on the NER as this region has received meagre attention in policy perspectives and is deprived in terms of various socio-economic and ecological indicators as compared to the rest of India. The findings show that various components of the SLSI, such as the ecological security index, economic efficiency index, and social equity index, have wide interstate variations. The agricultural sector in the NER has largely been neglected, with the state failing to adopt inclusive policies to uplift small and marginal farmers. The region suffers from severe poverty and malnutrition, improper management, over-exploitation of natural resources, and population explosion. These issues are a threat to agricultural sustainability. The study aims to identify the key factors that influence agricultural sustainability for inclusive and sustainable agricultural development. The findings show that the value of the SLSI ranged from 0.37 to 0.56 among the North Eastern states, which shows low agricultural sustainability.