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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Land, Livelihoods and Food Security
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1478795
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovative Approaches in Soil, Water, and Crop Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems View all articles

Performance of cash transfer program on farmers' livelihood: evidence from PM-KISAN scheme of India

Provisionally accepted
Bhaskar Ghosh Bhaskar Ghosh 1*Rajarshi R. Burman Rajarshi R. Burman 1,2*Rabindra Padaria Rabindra Padaria 1*Sudipta Paul Sudipta Paul 3*Girijesh S. Mahra Girijesh S. Mahra 1Pramod Kumar Pramod Kumar 4*Arpan Bhowmick Arpan Bhowmick 5*Sonali Mallick Sonali Mallick 6Sushmita Saini Sushmita Saini 2Sudip K. Gorai Sudip K. Gorai 7Sweety Mukherjee Sweety Mukherjee 1Sk Wasaful Quader Sk Wasaful Quader 1*
  • 1 Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
  • 2 Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, Delhi, India
  • 3 Social Science Division, National Rice Research Institute (ICAR), Cuttack, Odisha, India
  • 4 Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
  • 5 Division of Statistics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Dhemaji, Assam, India
  • 6 ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Canning Town, West Bengal, India
  • 7 Nutrihub, ICAR-Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR), Hyderabad, Telangana, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Research into various aspects of vulnerability and poverty has played a key role in shaping cash transfer systems. Cash-based direct benefit transfers (DBT) are frequently discussed, as they help reduce corruption and limit intermediary involvement, which often impedes policy implementation in countries like India. Small and marginal farmers (SMFs), constituting 86% of India's farming population, are essential for sustainable agricultural growth and ensuring food and nutrition security. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme provides Rs.6000 annually to the farmer families via DBT mechanism. Despite reports and information from various government sources, significant concerns remain regarding the performance of PM-KISAN scheme in improving living conditions of SMFs. For having the highest number of SMFs, a research study was conducted in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Two cluster of villages from each of these two states were chosen by simple random sampling (SRS) method. An ex post facto research design was used; data was gathered from 240 SMFs, with 120 beneficiaries and 120 non-beneficiaries, using a stratified disproportionate simple random sampling technique. The study used eighteen indicators related to livelihood assets—human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital, and financial capital—to generate a Livelihood Index (LI) through Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The beneficiaries of the scheme had an average LI score of 0.396, while non-beneficiaries had a score of 0.366. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was employed to compare the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in order to determine the impact of the scheme. In the Livelihood Index of beneficiaries, in comparison to non-beneficiaries, there was a significant improvement of 3.34 to 4.13 percentage points, according to the analysis, which utilized a variety of matching algorithms. Implications from the study suggests that PM-KISAN should be integrated into a broader rural development strategy to maximize multiplier effects. By combining cash transfers with complementary initiatives like modern technology adoption and high-yield seeds, farmers can make productive investments that could enhance their livelihood status.

    Keywords: cash transfers, Direct benefit transfer, PM-KISAN, livelihood, impact, Propensity score matching

    Received: 10 Aug 2024; Accepted: 31 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ghosh, Burman, Padaria, Paul, Mahra, Kumar, Bhowmick, Mallick, Saini, Gorai, Mukherjee and Quader. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Bhaskar Ghosh, Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
    Rajarshi R. Burman, Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, 110001, Delhi, India
    Rabindra Padaria, Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India
    Sudipta Paul, Social Science Division, National Rice Research Institute (ICAR), Cuttack, 753006, Odisha, India
    Pramod Kumar, Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, 110 012, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India
    Arpan Bhowmick, Division of Statistics, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Dhemaji, Assam, India
    Sk Wasaful Quader, Division of Agricultural Extension, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR), New Delhi, India

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