A Novel Framework for Constructing a Robust Octa-Dimensional Climate-Smart Agriculture Index
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Authors
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Abhinab Borah
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5837-5942
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Sudhanand Prasad Lal
Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar-848125 (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India)
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Darathee Das
Keywords:
Climate change, Climate-smart agriculture, Cronbach’s alpha, Index, Reliability, Spearman-BrownAbstract
Escalating climate variability induced risks in agriculture dependent economies necessitated a standardised composite index to measure farm level adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices. The study, conducted in 2024, developed the Octa-dimensional Climate-Smart Agriculture Index (ODCSAI) by combining the established cardinal weight assignment model of Alfares and Duffuaa with the min-max normalisation protocol of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Eight CSA dimensions viz. Crop Smart, Weather Smart, Water Smart, Carbon Smart, Energy Smart, Nutrient Smart, Knowledge Smart, and Market Smart were delineated through a structured review of seven CSA frameworks and operationalised using 47 indicators. Ordinal rankings elicited from 120 subject matter experts were converted into cardinal weights, with Crop Smart registering the highest weight (W = 93.73), followed by Weather Smart (W = 87.20) and Water Smart (W = 84.17), while Market Smart recorded the lowest (W = 48.03). Content validity was established using a six-member expert panel (S-CVI = 0.935), and psychometric reliability, assessed on 50 farmers across two Climate Smart Villages in Bihar, was triangulated through the Spearman-Brown coefficient (0.872), Guttman split-half coefficient (0.829), and Cronbach's alpha (0.848). The ODCSAI thus constituted a content-validated instrument for quantifying farm-level CSA adoption.
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