Institutions and social-ecological synergies in Indian agriculture

This dissertation advances theoretical and empirical knowledge on an ongoing challenge throughout the developing world: synergizing livelihood enhancement and agro-ecological sustainability. Systematic knowledge of synergies and causal pathways through which they are generated remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the role of institutions as drivers of synergies and tradeoffs between social and ecological outcomes in rainfed agriculture. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative evidence collected over sixteen months of fieldwork among 212 smallholder households in six villages and over sixty institutions in Telangana, India, I examine the influence of five institutional pathways on livelihood and landholding effects. I find that the pathways generally improved livelihood and landholding conditions. However, these improvements are unevenly distributed even among marginalized social groups. National level policies strongly affect livelihoods and agro-ecological conditions. However, failure to adequately acknowledge the processes by which target groups access benefits led to social and power relations threatening effective benefit delivery. Civic institutions play supporting roles by filling voids left by public interventions and channel benefits to their constituency. Findings show that indebtedness to formal and informal institutions shape vulnerability of smallholders by moderating livelihood strategies and agricultural practices. Scholars and policy makers interested in institutional dimensions of agriculture must attended more carefully to the complexity in local-level institutions, examine non-linear relationships between institutions and social-ecological outcomes and associated political arenas to better design interventions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geography

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Ramprasad, Vijay

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chhatre, Ashwini
• Ribot, Jesse
• Taylor-Lovell, Sarah
• Agrawal, Arun

• Rainfed agriculture
• Social-ecological systems
• India
• Development

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2017 Vijay Ramprasad

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99087

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/99087