Dynamics of Household and Regional Economy in Banni Grasslands, India: A Cross-Sectional Study
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This manuscript presents an interesting study of “Dynamics of Household and Regional Economy in Banni Grasslands, India: A Cross-Sectional Study”.
Overall, it combines a nice array of data collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) in Banni grasslands of Kachchh district of Gujarat State in India. This manuscript present the socio-economic dynamics of households and Banni grasslands. The paper clearly presents its objectives and can make an important contribution to the conservation of this important pastoralist system in Kachchh district. Pastoralism is the predominant livelihood activity in the arid regions of the world providing employment to majority of the livestock owners. In the wake of the looming climate change, the pastoralism provide food security to dependent human populations. Furthermore, these landless pastoralists are conserving the indigenous breeds of livestock for future generations.
In the current manuscript, the materials and methods are detailed and allow such procedures to be applied in other areas of interest. Similarly, the results are detailed and consistent with the procedures used. However, there are some aspects of the manuscript that I believe should be addressed by the authors before publication.
1. I suggest the manuscript needs re-arrangement, as the first two paragraphs are information related to the study area. These should be moved to the materials and methods with the sub-heading as “Study area.
2. The study areas should have information about the location of Banni grassland in Kachchh district of Gujarat State in India. The Kachchh district is bounded in the north and north west by Sindh province of Pakistan.
3. I suggest, the authors should prepare a good map of the Banni grasslands in Kachchh (also known as Kutch) district in Gujarat. I am putting an example of the map that was previously published in article on Banni grasslands.
An example of the map to be prepared for this study. Although this map is not of a good quality, the authors use it as a reference and should try to create a good map.
4. Why the study period is spread over 5 years as mentioned in this sentence, “The primary data were collected between July 2014 and June 2019 by personally interviewing 280 households selected randomly from these 13 villages”.
5. I suggest to add a reference for this sentence here, “The primary data collected from pastoralist households were corroborated through extensive field visits to Banni grasslands and pastoralists’ livestock yards at their home and during migration”[Rashid et al 2019].
· Rashid, W., Rahim, I., Nafees, M., Rehman, S.A.U., Khurshid, M., Shi, J., 2019. Making goat herders as scape goats for high-altitude pasture degradation: A case study of Haripur-Naran pastoral system in northern Pakistan. The Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences 29, 953-963
6. Updated references needs to be added in the manuscript. For example, this sentences needs reference, “Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) were held with key pastoralists in each village and other stakeholders such as representatives of the Banni region (Banni Breeders Association) and researchers and organizations working on Banni grasslands, which helped in supplementing and validating the primary data collected from individual household [Ullah et al 2018; Ullah et al 2022].
· Ullah, W., Nihei, T., Nafees, M., Zaman, R. and Ali, M. 2018. Understanding climate change vulnerability, adaptation, and risk perceptions at household level in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management. 10(3), pp. 359-378. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCCSM-02-2017-0038
· Ullah, M.S., Ullah, S., Javed, M.F., Ullah, R., Akbar, T.A., Ullah, W., Baig, S.A., Aziz, M., Mohamed, A., Sajjad, R.U., 2022. Assessment and Impacts of Air Pollution from Brick Kilns on Public Health in Northern Pakistan. Atmosphere 13, 1231-1242. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13081231.
7. Some of the references are not given in proper way. For example the reference in this sentence, “Refer to [11] for the detailed combinations of different enterprises practised
by the households”. It should be corrected as “Refer to Manjunatha et al [11] for the detailed combinations of different enterprises practiced by the households.
8. Please add the conversion rate of Indian Rupee ₹ to US $ below the table. Also, mention the year of conversion rate.
9. Please correct this sentence, “By 2010s juliflora has spread to 1,500 km2 in Banni [3,21] and re-write it. “By 2010s juliflora has spread to 1,500 km2 in Banni [3,21]
10. Please use a uniform style for referencing as per the journal requirement. Also add updated references to the manuscript.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please see the attachment for reply to the comments and suggestions of the reviewer.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
I liked the writing language of the primary article and the work. I have a few suggestions to increase the readability of your article.
Data were collected from 280 households in 3 villages, is it sufficient for this study? Are the interviews conducted in such studies in the literature close to this number? I think this information should be added to the introduction. In order to increase the quality of the work, I think it should be added. In addition, 280 households were randomly selected. Again, could a scientific method be used in choosing these households? Or what is your reason for not using it?
In the Introduction section, the purpose of the study should be explained in more detail.
In the Methods section, which statistics are used, it should be explained in more detail. The method part of the article is a bit weak.
It is also necessary to give the more general results of the study in the Conclusion section. A comprehensive study has been done, and I am sure that the results obtained from this study can be generalized and a more conclusion can be written. The results of the study are given, but not over-interpreted, this lake needs to be developed. In addition, it is very valuable for the readers to write your thoughts and suggestions on this subject. I think these sections should be added.
The writing of references should be standardized.
Author Response
Please see the attachment for reply to the comments and suggestions of the reviewer.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper is coherent and has logic from technical perspective, but it could benefit from a clearer perspective on the idea that it needs a better approach on the structure. Firstly, it needs a paragraph in the Introduction section that presents how the paper is structured, the purpose of the research, a brief analysis of the methodology and the quality of the used data. Secondly, the paper should also have in the Conclusion section a short paragraph dedicated towards the future research and the limits of the actual model, furthermore discussing the process of research gaps that could have altered the results. The Reference section needs to be increased with at least 5 to 7 papers from the last 4 year on the subject.
Author Response
Please see the attachment for reply to the comments and suggestions of the reviewer.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
