When social criteria are incorporated into Indian agricultural
sustainability research they are commonly limited to the welfare of
farmers (for example Noltze et al. (2013) and Senthilkumar et al.
(2008)). Yet rural poverty is especially prevalent amongst landless
labour — two thirds of whom are below the poverty line and who, for
the first time in India, outnumber landed labour (Chandramouli, 2013;
Harriss-White and Gooptu, 2009). Nonetheless, while sustainability
analysis of any agricultural system should not ignore landless labour,
the role of agriculture in providing employment is unclear; should displacement
of agricultural labour be seen positively for reducing drudgery,
or negatively for reducing employment? The role of agriculture in
providing employment to reduce poverty is a complex and polarised debate
(Biggs et al., 2011).