Livelihood security of farm women in Kerala and Manipur: A comparative analysis

Abstract

The study entitled “Livelihood security of farm women in Kerala and Manipur: A comparative analysis” was conducted to assess and compare the livelihood security of farm women in Kerala and Manipur and analyze the relationship between personal, sociopsychological and cultural characteristics of the respondents and its relationship with livelihood security and delineate the constraints experienced by the farm women and formulate a sustainable livelihood security framework. The study was conducted in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala and Ukhrul district of Manipur. From each district, block having maximum number of farm women viz Vamanapuram from Kerala and Ukhrul North from Manipur were selected and from each block three panchayats with maximum number of farm women viz Vamanpuram, Pangode and Kallara from Kerala and Phungcham, Chingjaroi Khullen and Nungbi Khullen from Manipur were selected for the study. From each panchayat, 15 farm women were selected randomly. A total of 45 farm women were being surveyed from each district thereby comprising a total number of 90 respondents for the study. Livelihood security is the dependent variable and the scale developed by Baby (2005) was used to measure it. The six components of livelihood security selected through judges rating were food security, occupational security. educational security, habitat security, health security and social security. The ten independent variables of the study selected through judges rating included: age, education, annual income, family size, land holding, farming experience, mass media exposure, extension orientation, scientific orientation and risk orientation. From the results it could be seen that more than half of the respondents (57.78% and 62%) in Kerala and Manipur belonged to middle age group. 64.45 per cent and 36 percent of the respondents in Kerala and Manipur had education up to high school and 48.89 percent and 53.33 percent of the respondents in Kerala and Manipur had low level of income. More than half of the respondents (55.56%) in Kerala had small family size and 58 percent of the respondents in Manipur had medium family size. With regard to land holding most of the farm women (64.44 %) in Kerala were having small land holding and 62 percent of the respondents in Manipur were having large land holding. 75.56 percent and 84 percent of the respondents in Kerala and Manipur respectively were found under high farming experience category. Majority of the respondents (62.22 % and 66.67 %) in Kerala and Manipur were found under medium mass media exposure category. 75.56 percent and 53.33 per cent of the respondents in Kerala and Manipur had medium extension orientation and 64.44 percent and 71.11 percent of the respondents in Kerala and Manipur had medium level of scientific orientation. Majority of the respondents (75.56% and 68.89 %) in Kerala and Manipur had medium level of risk orientation. The study revealed that the majority of the respondents (51.11% and 64.44%) in Kerala and Manipur had a medium level of livelihood security. Majority of the respondents (77.78% and 68.89%) in Kerala and Manipur had medium availability and accessibility of resources and infrastructure. The biplot obtained from PCA of Kerala revealed that the components with the strongest relationship with PC1 were food, educational and habitat security, all relations being positive whereas occupational, social and health security contributed positively to PC2. The results of principal component analysis of Manipur– biplot, it was observed that PC1 is positively associated with educational, habitat and social security. Whereas PC2 is positively associated with food and occupational security. PC2 is negatively associated with health security. From the Mann-Whitney U test, it has been revealed that there was significant difference in food, occupational, educational, health and social security. Whereas habitat security is found to have no significant difference. From the correlation study it was revealed that the variables influencing livelihood security were education, annual income, family size, land holding, mass media exposure and risk orientation. The study also revealed that there was no significant association between livelihood security and the variables such as age, farming experience, extension orientation and scientific orientation. The major constraints faced by farm women in Kerala were insufficient funds, unavailability of good quality seeds, inadequate land for cultivation, insufficient training on farming, inadequate marketing facilities, crop loss due to wild animal attack, unavailability of fertilizers, insufficient irrigation facilities and lack of farm machineries. And the major constraints perceived by the farm women in Manipur were inadequate government support, insufficient marketing facilities, insufficient irrigation facilities, insufficient funds, inadequate transportation facilities, inadequate extension services, unavailability of inputs in time, inadequate storage facilities and improved method of cultivation and crop management are inadequate. The constraints experienced by the farm women need to be considered in order to improve the livelihood security of farm women. The major suggestions by the respondents of Kerala for enhancing their livelihood security were to improve funding for development of farm women, aadequate and timely supply of quality seeds, promote collective farming, ensure better delivery system of agriculture support services, create awareness on marketing, support to provide fencing to protect from wild animals, adequate and timely supply of inputs, promote rain water harvesting and measures for sufficient supply of farm machineries. And the major suggestions given by the respondents of Manipur for improving their livelihood security were to provide basic public services by the government, create awareness on marketing, promote rainwater harvesting, improve funding for development of farm women, improve public transportation services, improve existing extension services, adequate and timely supply of inputs, provide cold storage facilities and improved method of cultivation should be made available to farm women. Livelihood strategies were formulated at farm women and delivery system level to safeguard livelihood outcomes such as adequate availability of raw materials, efficient transportation facilities, ample marketing facilities, sufficient funds leading to more production and higher income.