IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/miceco/v13y2025i3p302-324.html

Determinants of Farmers’ Vulnerability to Poverty Due to Crop Loss: The Case of Assam, India

Author

Listed:
  • Daisy Das

Abstract

This article tries to assess the determinants of farmers’ vulnerability to poverty due to crop loss and to find out how they cope with it. To carry out the aforesaid study, we have conducted a field survey in Assam, India. Using ordered probit regression, we find that vulnerability is determined by a host of factors such as age, family size, social group, monthly expenditure, loss due to crop damage, coping measures, crop insurance, use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation. However, access to institutional support does not reduce vulnerability significantly. Coping measures are mostly destructive, and farmers with these coping strategies are more vulnerable to poverty. Social safety nets such as public distribution and ad hoc employment facilities are available, but the safety nets needed for farming and basic measures required for increasing productivity have been lacking. The study recommends affordable irrigation, training and awareness programmes and the provision of the resource base for successful coping. It is also important to provide opportunities for livelihood diversification to maintain the inflow of cash during crop loss. Finally, farmers who are on the margins of subsistence require institutions for social security to reduce vulnerability and bring about transformation. JEL Classification: C83

Suggested Citation

  • Daisy Das, 2025. "Determinants of Farmers’ Vulnerability to Poverty Due to Crop Loss: The Case of Assam, India," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 13(3), pages 302-324, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:miceco:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:302-324
    DOI: 10.1177/23210222221135455
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23210222221135455
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23210222221135455?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shaik, Saleem & Coble, Keith H. & Knight, Thomas O. & Baquet, Alan E. & Patrick, George F., 2008. "Crop Revenue and Yield Insurance Demand: A Subjective Probability Approach," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 757-766, December.
    2. Jha, Raghbendra & Bhattacharyya, Sambit & Gaiha, Raghav, 2011. "Social safety nets and nutrient deprivation: An analysis of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and the Public Distribution System in India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 189-201, April.
    3. Dercon, Stefan, 2004. "Growth and shocks: evidence from rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 309-329, August.
    4. Raju Guntukula & Phanindra Goyari, 2020. "Climate Change Effects on the Crop Yield and Its Variability in Telangana, India," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 8(1), pages 119-148, June.
    5. Blumkin, Tomer & Margalioth, Yoram & Sadka, Efraim, 2009. "Incorporating affirmative action into the welfare state," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1027-1035, October.
    6. Brugere, Cecile & Lingard, John, 2003. "Irrigation deficits and farmers' vulnerability in Southern India," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 65-88, July.
    7. Anjini Kochar, 1999. "Smoothing Consumption by Smoothing Income: Hours-of-Work Responses to Idiosyncratic Agricultural Shocks in Rural India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 50-61, February.
    8. C. Edwin Young & Monte L. Vandeveer & Randall D. Schnepf, 2001. "Production and Price Impacts of U.S. Crop Insurance Programs," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1196-1203.
    9. Conning, Jonathan & Kevane, Michael, 2002. "Community-Based Targeting Mechanisms for Social Safety Nets: A Critical Review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 375-394, March.
    10. Stephen Devereux, 2002. "Can Social Safety Nets Reduce Chronic Poverty?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 20(5), pages 657-675, November.
    11. Lynn R. Brown & Ugo Gentilini, 2006. "On the Edge: The Role of Food-based Safety Nets in Helping Vulnerable Households Manage Food Insecurity," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-111, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Berloffa, Gabriella & Modena, Francesca, 2013. "Income shocks, coping strategies, and consumption smoothing: An application to Indonesian data," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 158-171.
    13. Barrientos, Armando & Gorman, Mark & Heslop, Amanda, 2003. "Old Age Poverty in Developing Countries: Contributions and Dependence in Later Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 555-570, March.
    14. Stefan Dercon, 2002. "Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 141-166, September.
    15. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    16. Parmod Kumar & Sudhir Kumar Singh, 2012. "Consumption Smoothing and Insurance Against the Income Risks: A Case of India," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 47(2), pages 265-283.
    17. Dercon, Stefan, 2006. "Economic reform, growth and the poor: Evidence from rural Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 1-24, October.
    18. Calvo, Cesar, 2008. "Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty: Peru, 1998-2002," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 1011-1020, June.
    19. Nobuhiro Hosoe, 2004. "Crop failure, price regulation, and emergency imports of Japan's rice sector in 1993," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(10), pages 1051-1056.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2020. "Poverty and Floods in Cap-Haïtien," World Bank Publications - Reports 34165, The World Bank Group.
    2. Gamel Abdul-Nasser Salifu, 2019. "The Political Economy Dynamics of Rural Household Income Diversification: A Review of the International Literature," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 273-290, December.
    3. repec:qeh:qehwps:qehwps148 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Masahiro Shoji & Keitaro Aoyagi & Ryuji Kasahara & Yasuyuki Sawada, 2020. "Motives behind community participation: Evidence from natural and artefactual field experiments in Sri Lanka," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 577-600, December.
    5. Kailash Chandra Pradhan & Shrabani Mukherjee, 2018. "Covariate and Idiosyncratic Shocks and Coping Strategies for Poor and Non-poor Rural Households in India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 16(1), pages 101-127, March.
    6. C. Rashaad Shabab, 2021. "Local droughts and income risk among Thai households," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2084-2112, November.
    7. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2020. "Crop diversity, household welfare and consumption smoothing under risk: Evidence from rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Kacem, Rami Ben Haj, 2013. "Monetary versus non-monetary pro-poor growth: Evidence from rural Ethiopia between 2004 and 2009," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy, vol. 7, pages 1-22.
    9. Satya R. Chakravarty & Nachiketa Chattopadhyay & Jacques Silber & Guanghua Wan, 2016. "Measuring the impact of vulnerability on the number of poor: a new methodology with empirical illustrations," Chapters, in: Jacques Silber & Guanghua Wan (ed.), The Asian ‘Poverty Miracle’, chapter 4, pages 84-117, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Castells-Quintana, David & del Pilar Lopez-Uribe, Maria & McDermott, Thomas K.J., 2018. "A review of adaptation to climate change through a development economics lens," Working Papers 309605, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    11. d'Errico, Marco & Di Giuseppe, Stefania, 2018. "Resilience mobility in Uganda: A dynamic analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 78-96.
    12. Martina Kirchberger, 2014. "Natural Disasters and Labour Markets," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2014-19, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Duy Linh Nguyen & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2023. "Shocks, household consumption, and livelihood diversification: a comparative evidence from panel data in rural Thailand and Vietnam," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 3223-3255, October.
    14. Masahiro Shoji, 2008. "How do the poor cope with hardships when mutual assistance is unavailable?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17.
    15. Marco d’Errico & Donato Romano & Rebecca Pietrelli, 2018. "Household resilience to food insecurity: evidence from Tanzania and Uganda," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(4), pages 1033-1054, August.
    16. Md. Masud‐All‐Kamal & Choyon Kumar Saha, 2014. "Targeting Social Policy and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 195-211, June.
    17. Dercon, Stefan & Christiaensen, Luc, 2011. "Consumption risk, technology adoption and poverty traps: Evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 159-173, November.
    18. Sekhri, Sheetal & Storeygard, Adam, 2014. "Dowry deaths: Response to weather variability in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 212-223.
    19. Tsiboe, Francis & Turner, Dylan, 2023. "Econometric identification of crop insurance participation," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 476-497, December.
    20. Nasri, Khaled & Weslati, Adnen, 2022. "Targeting Household Deprivations for Multidimensional Poverty Alleviation: An Application to Tunisian Data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1019, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    21. Abebe, Meseret B. & Alem, Yonas, 2023. "Drought, Livestock Holding, and Milk Production: A Difference-in-Differences Analysis," EfD Discussion Paper 23-12, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C83 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Survey Methods; Sampling Methods

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:miceco:v:13:y:2025:i:3:p:302-324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.