Economic impact of drought on agrarian society: The case study of a village in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the distributional impacts of disaster, especially the impact of drought on land and income, through a longitudinal study (drought year and one year after the drought) in Raikhel Village, Maharashtra, India. The key distinction of the paper is to assess the impact of the drought at the household level based on the landholding structure in the village. The paper approaches the impact of disaster in two ways: (a) by looking at the changes in land ownership as well as income due to drought based on the landholding categories in the village, and (b) by identifying the determinants of household level vulnerability due to drought using a regression model. This study shows that income from non-agriculture sources played a significant role in minimising the losses and damage as well as facilitating the recovery from the disaster. Following the drought, households moved from agriculture to non-agriculture livelihood, which are more incentivizing, as well as livelihood that is relatively less vulnerable to the disaster. The approach of the study helps in identifying the vulnerability pattern as well as protective measures that support households to cope with the disaster.