Multidimensional Livelihood Security of Fish Farmers in Manipur: A Composite Index Analysis from the Post-COVID-19 Period

Abstract

Fisheries and aquaculture play a vital role in ensuring food, nutritional, and livelihood security in developing regions; however, the COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions to production systems, supply chains, and market access, adversely affecting fish farming households leaving lasting challenges. The present study assesses the livelihood security of fish farmers in the post-pandemic period in the Manipur using a composite Livelihood Security Index (LSI) based on primary data collected from 96 households through a multistage sampling design. Livelihood security was evaluated across six dimensions—food, economic, health, educational, social, and infrastructural—using normalized indicators and weighted aggregation following the Iyengar and Sudarshan approach. The results reveal an overall LSI value of 0.53, indicating a moderate level of livelihood security. Among the dimensions, educational security (0.69) recorded the highest value, followed by infrastructural (0.59) and food security (0.58), while health and social security (0.57 each) remained moderate, reflecting reasonable access to healthcare and strong community support systems. In contrast, economic security was significantly low (0.29), emerging as the most critical constraint due to income instability, labour shortages, and limited savings during the pandemic. Classification using the CSRF method shows that the majority of households fall under upper-medium (38.54%) and high (23.96%) categories, although a notable proportion remains in the low (17.71%) and lower-medium (19.79%) groups, indicating persistent vulnerability. Farm size-wise analysis reveals a positive association between landholding and livelihood security, while village-level analysis highlights significant spatial disparities. Overall, the study concludes that strengthening economic resilience, improving infrastructure, and addressing regional inequalities are essential for enhancing sustainable livelihood security in inland fisheries systems.