Social Life Cycle Assessment of Irrigation Technologies in Indian Cassava Farming
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2026.62339Keywords:
Social life cycle assessment, Solar irrigation, Cassava cultivation, Social sustainability, Renewable energy.Abstract
Sustainable irrigation technologies play a vital role in improving rural livelihoods and strengthening social sustainability in agriculture. The present study assessed the social sustainability performance of cassava production systems under solar-powered and electric irrigation technologies in Kallakurichi district of Tamil Nadu, India, during 2025. A Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) framework integrated with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed to evaluate seven social dimensions, namely labour availability, labour welfare, women participation, capacity building, household welfare, community participation, and post-harvest participation. Primary data were collected from 640 cassava farmers using a structured interview schedule. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin value (0.853) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < 0.001) confirmed the suitability of the data for factor analysis. Seven principal components explained 79.42 per cent of the total variance. The findings revealed that farmers adopting solar irrigation achieved higher social sustainability scores than electric irrigation farmers across all dimensions. Greater improvements were observed in labour welfare, community participation, and capacity building. The composite SLCA index was higher for solar irrigation farmers (0.65) compared to electric irrigation farmers (0.50). The study concluded that renewable irrigation technologies promoted social sustainability, farmer welfare, and inclusive rural development in cassava production systems.
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