Applying the Method of Paired Comparison Technique to Determine the Most Critical Issue Associated with the Livelihood Security of the Tribal Farmers of Meghalaya

Ensuring livelihood security of the tribal farmers of Meghalaya has been the main focus of the policymakers. To accelerate the process, it is necessary to identify the most serious issue encountered by the farmers of the region. This paper presents a list of agricultural issues associated with the livelihood security of the farmers. Using survey data from beneficiary farmers of Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) project of College of Post Graduate Studies in Agricultural Sciences (CPGSAS), Umiam, Meghalaya and College of Home Science (CoHSc), Tura, Meghalaya, Central Agricultural University, Imphal [CAU(I)], the method of paired comparison is applied to prioritize the list of issues. The data was collected in the year 2018 from 390 beneficiary farmers from Ri-Bhoi district and West Garo Hill of Meghalaya state. The result indicates that crop diseases and pest infestation were the most critical issue. Both present and future policymaker need to intervene according to the need base situation of the farmer to ensure their livelihood security.