Natural Resources Research Articles
Farm size limits agriculture's poverty reduction potential in Eastern India even with irrigation-led intensification
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-2023
Journal Title
Agricultural Systems
ISSN
ISSN 0308-521X eISSN 1873-2267
Keywords
South Asia, Intensification Benefit Index, Groundwater Sustainable agriculture, Rural transformation, Indo-Gangetic Plains, Rice-wheat system
Disciplines
Agribusiness | Agricultural Economics | Agricultural Education | Agricultural Science | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Animal Sciences | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Finance and Financial Management | Hydrology | Natural Resource Economics | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Sustainability | Water Resource Management
Abstract
CONTEXT
Millions of people living in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of India engage in agricultureto support their livelihoods yet are income poor, and food and climate insecure. To address these challenges, policymakers and development programs invest in irrigation-led agricultural intensification. However, the evidence for agricultural intensification to lift farmers' incomes above the poverty line remains largely anecdotal.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this study is to use a large household survey (n= 15,572; rice: 8244, wheat: 7328; 2017/18) to assess the link between agricultural intensification and personal daily incomes from farming (FPDI) in the rice-wheat systems of the EGP – the dominant cropping system of the region.
METHODS
We use the Intensification Benefit Index (IBI), a measure that relates farm size and household size to FPDI, to assess how daily incomes from rice-wheat production change with irrigation-led intensification across the EGP.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Relative to the international poverty line of 1.90 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)$ day−1 and accounting for variations in HH size in the analysis, we found that small farm sizes limit the potential for agricultural intensification from irrigation to transform the poverty status of households in the bottom three quartiles of the IBI. The estimated median FPDI of households with intensified systems in the bottom three quartiles is only 0.51 PPP$ day−1 (a 0.15 PPP$ gain). The median FPDI increases to 2.10 PPP$ day−1 for households in the upper quartile of the IBI distribution (a 0.30 PPP$ gain). Irrigation-led agricultural intensification of rice-wheat systems in the EGP may provide substantial benefits for resilience to climatic change and food security but achieving meaningful poverty reduction will require complementary investments.
SIGNIFICANCE
Transforming the poverty status of most smallholder farmers in the EGP requires diversified portfolios of rural on- and off-farm income-generating opportunities. While bolstering food- and climate security, agronomic intervention programs should consider smallholders' limited monetary incentives to invest in intensification. Irrigation-led agricultural intensification programs and policies should explicitly account for the heterogeneity in household resources, irrigation levels, and degree of dependence on agricultural income.
Recommended Citation
Anton Urfels, Kai Mausch, Dave Harris, Andrew J. McDonald, Avinash Kishore, Balwinder-Singh, Gerardo van Halsema, Paul C. Struik, Peter Craufurd, Timothy Foster, Vartika Singh, Timothy J. Krupnik, Farm size limits agriculture's poverty reduction potential in Eastern India even with irrigation-led intensification, Agricultural Systems, Volume 207, 2023, 103618, ISSN 0308-521X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2023.103618.
