Abstract
Farmers living in a state of poverty in semi-arid areas are the main victims of drought. They suffer most from drought, which makes it particularly important to assess their capacity to cope with it. The present study developed a new approach for such assessment. Famers’ resources and initiatives to deal with drought were evaluated, and appropriate coping strategies are proposed by analyzing the differences between the coping capacities of two categories of farmers; tenants (with large holdings) and smallholders. Tenants’ capacity to cope with drought was 1.7 times that of smallholders. Also, tenants showed greater initiative during droughts, whereas smallholders made greater efforts in preparing for droughts. Farmers’ resources were positively correlated to the degree of their initiative (correlation coefficient = 0.49). Farmers showed greater initiative when they had larger holdings and were less dependent on agricultural income. The state should give more financial support to subsidy-dependent farmers and encourage smallholders—whose major income comes from crops—to augment their income through livestock husbandry. Such a policy would prove more conducive to increasing the capacity of not only local farmers but also of the entire region to cope with droughts and to promote sustainable development of local agriculture.
Highlights
Drought is one of the most widespread and long-lasting natural disasters
Local smallholders are constrained by high irrigation costs and are often helpless in the face of drought, whereas large tenants can manage it better by using irrigation, including sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation, as with the smallholders, the costs incurred by the tenants are often influenced by their other initiatives, which become important to the ability of both categories of farmers to cope with drought
Tanhdertehfoertee,ntahnetrsesscuolrtesdshhoigwhegrretahtaenr tihnedisvmidaullahlodldifefresrednicdeisnintearmlloscoaftitohneoinf irteiasotiuvrecsetsa,kaenndttohdeetaelnwaniths sdcrooruedghhtig(Fhiegrutrhea2n).the smallholders did in terms of the initiatives taken to deal with drought (Figure 2)
Summary
Drought is one of the most widespread and long-lasting natural disasters. As a consequence of global climate change, droughts are likely to be both more frequent and more intense [1]. Agricultural production is severely affected by droughts. From 2006 to 2016, 83% of all economic losses due to drought were incurred by the agricultural sector [2], which makes strengthening research on the management and governance of risk from agricultural droughts a key issue in current research on disasters [3]. The main victims of agricultural drought are farmers, especially those who are living in poverty and heavily dependent on crop production [4]. The impact of drought on farmers is reflected in economic losses and in potential reduction in employment opportunities available to farmers and in the dampening of farmers’ enthusiasm to invest in crop production, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of regional agriculture [5]. Improving farmers’ capacity to cope with drought is the key to improving a region’s resilience to drought
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