The Adoption and Impact of Soil Conservation in the Hilly Region of Meghalaya

• Published in: The Indian journal of agricultural economics Vol. 78; no. 1; pp. 108 - 125
• Main Authors: Tyngkan, Hehlangki, Singh, S. Basanta, Singh, Ram, Nongbri, Baiarbor, Gogoi, Jeemoni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bombay Indian Society of Agricultural Economics 2023
• Subjects: Access to credit; Agricultural production; Agriculture; Change agents; Climate change; Corn; Crop production; Crops; Data collection; Employment; Farm income; Farmers; Farms; Five year plans; French beans; Households; Income; Income distribution; Land degradation; Livelihood; Natural resources; Off-farm; Potatoes; Productivity; Regression models; Soil conservation; Soil erosion control; Water conservation; Watershed management; Meghalaya India; India
• ISSN: 0019-5014; 2582-7510
• DOI: 10.63040/25827510.2023.01.005

The paper has assessed the factors affecting the adoption of soil conservation measures and their impact on crop productivity, income and income distribution and employment generation using data from 240 households in the hilly region of Meghalaya, India. Binary logistic regression model, paired t-test, Gini index and Lorenz curve were employed to achieve the desired objectives. The factors which were found to significantly affect the adoption of soil conservation by the farmers included age, sex, education, farm income, off-farm income, access to credit, slope and training. Adopters found a positive percentage change in the average yield over the non-adopters in all the selected crops with the highest percentage change in carrot (24.81 per cent) followed by maize (22.37 per cent), cabbage (13.60 per cent), potato (11.80 per cent), and French bean (8.08 per cent), hr both the adopters and non-adopter categories, the majority of the farmers belonged to the income group of Rs. 30001- Rs. 60000 (39.17 per cent and 48.33 per cent respectively) followed by Rs. 60001- Rs. 90000 (35.83 per cent and 30.83 per cent respectively). Adopters had an additional income of Rs. 16,723.65 per household which was significant when compared to the non-adopters. Additionally, the Lorenz curve and Gini index (0.28 for adopters and 0.38 for non-adopters) depicted a comparatively even income distribution among the adopters. Per farm employment showed a significant difference of 285.95 mandays and 243.18 man-days in adopters and non-adopters, respectively. Thus, in view of increasing climate change, it can be suggested that adoption soil conservation measures could be one of the adaptation strategy for sustaining crop production which will enhance the livelihood of resource poor farmers dwelling in the ecologically fragile regions such as the hilly region of Meghalaya.