Comparative Assessment of Livelihood Security among Small, Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers in the Northern Dry Zone and Southern Transition Zone of Karnataka

Abstract

The study assessed and compared the livelihood support systems of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers in the Northern Dry Zone and the Southern Transition Zone of Karnataka. Primary data were collected from 240 respondents, comprising 160 small and marginal farmers and 80 agricultural labourers, through personal interviews using a well-structured interview schedule. A multistage purposive random sampling technique was employed to select respondents across four taluks in each agro-climatic zone. A Composite Livelihood Security Index (CLSI) was constructed using six dimensions, namely economic security, food security, education security, health security, habitat security and social security, following the Iyengar and Sudarshan indicator-weighting approach. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to validate the dimensional structure of livelihood security, while a Fractional Probit model was employed to identify the determinants of livelihood security separately for farmers and agricultural labourers. The results revealed that the Composite Livelihood Security Index was higher in the Southern Transition Zone (0.532) than in the Northern Dry Zone (0.425). More than half of the households in the Southern Transition Zone (50.80%) belonged to the high livelihood security category, compared with only 2.50 per cent in the Northern Dry Zone. The Southern advantage was proportionally larger for farmers (28.0%) than for agricultural labourers (18.5%). Fractional Probit estimates indicated that Southern-zone location was positively associated with livelihood security among farmers (β = 0.245; p = 0.061). Among agricultural labourers, institutional participation had the largest positive coefficient (β = 0.157), although the estimate was not statistically significant. The findings highlight regional disparities in livelihood security and emphasise the need to strengthen livelihood support systems for vulnerable rural households across different agro-climatic zones of Karnataka.