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Adaptive strategies enhance smallholders’ livelihood resilience in Bihar, India

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Abstract

This study empirically assesses if and to what extent adaptive strategies contribute to smallholders’ livelihood resilience in Bihar, India. The sustainable rural livelihoods framework has been implemented to understand how household livelihood systems may interact with the outside context. This poses significant empirical and methodological challenges, since studies of the interconnections between livelihood resources, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes from a quantitative point of view are still limited. The results extend the theoretical understanding of the relationships identified by the Sustainable Rural Livelihoods framework, and also provide empirical evidence about how livelihood resources, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes (food security in particular) are strictly interconnected. The study highlights that while the adaptive strategies implementation is influenced by the livelihood resources of rural households, it significantly influences the food security status of the smallholders in Bihar. On the basis of the above, the current study emphasizes the importance of targeted interventions to improve specific forms of households’ livelihood resources which are prominent determinants of adoption of strategies that leads to the maintenance of resilience by environmentally dependent households in the developing world.

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Notes

  1. The predicted 1st factor from a Factor Analysis performed on assets such as a refrigerator, stove, pressure cooker, dressing table, electric fan, television, dining table or motor vehicle owned by a household was calculated.

  2. The selection of variables mostly followed literature based in African contexts due to the lack of specific studies in India. This could affect the interpretation of the absolute value of the score.

  3. The HFIAS was developed between 2001 and 2006 by the USAID-funded Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II project (FANTA) in collaboration with Tufts and Cornell Universities, among other partners.

  4. Applications of food insecurity scales can use recall periods ranging from 12 months to 24 h. The choice of recall period should be based on different considerations. A long recall period could generate recall bias, that is, underestimation of food quantities because of memory failure. A short recall period could generate telescoping errors, that is, the quantities consumed are overestimated (Smith et al. 2006). Furthermore, too short recall periods tend to be time consuming and may not capture the complex notion of food security (Maxwell et al. 2008). The 30-day recall period could represent the right period of time to analyse the degree of food insecurity of households.

  5. All the estimations have been carried out using STATA version 16.

  6. Varimax rotation has been performed to minimize the number of variables that have high loading on one component. Statistical tests such as Bartlett’s sphericity test and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure indicate that the PCA is appropriate.

  7. The Sargan test showed exogeneity of instruments. Moreover, results from the test for weak instruments indicates that the selected instruments were relevant.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Flavia Scafetti, Ambica Paliwal, Sanjeev Kumar, Krishna Kumar and Akhilesh Kumar for their support during the preparation and implementation of the field work. The authors are also grateful to Gaia Gullotta for her valuable contribution.

This work was implemented as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), which is carried out with support from the CGIAR Trust Fund and through bilateral funding agreements. For details please visit https://ccafs.cgiar.org/donors. The views expressed in this document cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of these organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioversity International, Via dei Tre Denari 472/a, 00054, Maccarese (Fiumicino), RM, Italy

    Tiziana Pagnani, Elisabetta Gotor & Francesco Caracciolo

  2. University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 96, 80055, Portici, NA, Italy

    Tiziana Pagnani & Francesco Caracciolo

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  1. Tiziana Pagnani
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  2. Elisabetta Gotor
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Correspondence to Elisabetta Gotor.

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Pagnani, T., Gotor, E. & Caracciolo, F. Adaptive strategies enhance smallholders’ livelihood resilience in Bihar, India. Food Sec. 13, 419–437 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-020-01110-2

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