Construction and Validation of a Livelihood Vulnerability Index for Agriculture-Human-Wildlife Conflict
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Authors
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Gyanendra Singh
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda-210001 (U.P.), India
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A. P. Verma
Department of Agricultural Extension Education, BUAT, Banda-210001 (Uttar Pradesh)
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B. K. Gupta
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda-210001 (U.P.), India
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Gaurav Shukla
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda-210001 (U.P.), India
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Rohit Chaudhary
Banda University of Agriculture and Technology, Banda-210001 (U.P.), India
Keywords:
Agriculture-Human-wildlife conflict, Exposure, Sensitivity, Adaptive capacity, Livelihood, VulnerabilityAbstract
Agriculture-human-wildlife conflict (AHWC) can affect farming households through crop damage, livestock loss, protection costs and constraints on livelihood security. The study was undertaken in 2026 to develop and validate a Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) for farming households exposed to AHWC. An initial pool of 79 sub-indicators was generated from literature review and expert consultation and organized a priori under exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity following the IPCC vulnerability framework. A relevancy schedule was circulated among 75 experts, of whom 45 returned complete responses. Sub-indicators were screened using Relevancy Weightage (RW), Mean Relevancy Score (MRS), Overall Mean Relevancy Score (OMRS) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR), with retention criteria of RW ≥ 0.80, MRS ≥ OMRS (2.40) and CVR ≥ 0.29. Fifty-seven sub-indicators were retained, 17 under exposure, 12 under sensitivity and 28 under adaptive capacity. The final instrument was arranged on a five-point continuum and pilot-tested with 50 farming households from a non-sample area. Cronbach's alpha was 0.929 for the overall index and 0.814, 0.812 and 0.864 for exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, respectively. The findings supported the use of the index as a structured tool for field assessment of livelihood vulnerability associated with AHWC.
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