First generation VLS: 1975 – 1984

ICRISAT’s Economics Program initiated VLS at six locations in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states of India in May 1975. Two villages each were included from Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh and Solapur and Akola districts of Maharashtra. In 1980 two additional villages each from Sabarkantha district of Gujarat and Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh were included in the study. While the panel data are built for the six villages in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra for the period 1975-84, the baseline information is available for the villages in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for period spanning 1980-84. The VLS data on socio-economic characteristics have been collected at regular intervals from 240 households since mid-1975. Data collection of this initial phase ended in 1985.

This phase laid a strong emphasis on data analysis that was essential to make the studies attractive to ICRISAT, which at times used core resources to fund the studies. The direct involvement of in-house researchers in data analysis led to major improvements in data collection, in spotting systematic errors, and enhanced data quality in general.

Second generation VLS: 2001 to the present

Since 1985, profound social and economic changes have taken place in the village and household economies in the SAT. Surveys were conducted in 1989, 1993, 2000, and 2001 to ascertain these sweeping changes which added new information to the existing panel data. This led to the resumption of the VLS in Asia in 2001, in partnership with national research programs and other leading institutes worldwide. Fresh censuses of all the households were conducted with a large sample proportional to the number of households. New modules were included in addition to the traditional modules of the first generation VLS. The sample was extended to about 600 households to include all the split-offs from the original households residing in the village. The second generation VLS provides an effective tool for identifying major changes in the SAT village economy in order to develop priorities for research and policy. The studies led to a re-engagement with Advanced Research Institutes (ARIs) and partners from universities and other institutes of the UK, USA, Japan, Canada, France and Australia in a longitudinal panel study.

Given ICRISAT’s extensive experience in collecting information through high frequency rounds, maintaining the long panel data-sets, and collaborating with leading social scientists for the analysis and interpretation of the results, similar success can be achieved through the VDSA project extended to 42 villages of India and Bangladesh in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP) and research institutes/universities in the respective states. The new modules developed for the VLS now address important issues of feminization of agriculture by collecting data with gender disaggregation, inter- and intra-household participation, decision-making and control of resources, among others.

Focus group meeting with farmers in Karnataka	Drawing institutional information

ICRISAT's longitudinal VLS have proved to be one of the most valuable contributions of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to the knowledge base on rural household economies, providing important insights about changing household and village livelihoods that help scientists identify and understand socio economic, agro-biological, and institutional constraints to agricultural development in the SAT. The most beneficial and transferable element of the longitudinal study approach is the continuity provided in maintaining benchmark on-farm research sites and in sustaining interactions with farmers.