view; they defi ned agricultural sustainability based on profi tability on selling
of agricultural products, other economic factors infl uencing costs of input
and fl uctuation in output prices, besides they considered the education
and experience of farmers as an indicator on economic terms; from the
point of view of social terms, they defi ned indicators such as meaningful
lifestyle, migration patterns of farmers and condition of community life.
According to Zhen & Routray (2003), in the developing countries,
the agricultural sustainability indicators are divided into three dimensions.
These indicators were defi ned from environmental point of view, based
on amount of fertilizers/pesticides used per unit of cropped land, amount
of irrigation utilized per unit of cropped land, soil nutrient content, depth
to ground water table, quality of ground water for irrigation, water use
effi ciency, and nitrate content of ground water and crop; from economic
point of view; they defi ned agricultural sustainability based on crop
productivity, net farm income, benefi t-cost ratio, and per capita food grain
production; from the point of view of social terms, they defi ned indicators
such as food self-suffi ciency, equality in income and food distribution,
and access to resource and support service. Similarly, Muangkaew (2006)
studied sustainable livelihood of rice based farming system in Southern
Thailand. She introduced agricultural sustainability indicators from
environmental point of view, based on soil fertility management, water
use management, and pest/disease management; from economic point
of view; she defi ned agricultural sustainability based on productivity,
profi tability, farm effi ciency, and distribution of household income; and
from the point of view of social terms, she defi ned indicators such as food
security, accessibility to agricultural information, agricultural marketing
services, and farmer organizations.