Farmers’ Coping and Adaptive Behavior toward Drought Hazard in the North-West Region of Balochistan, Pakistan

Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the farmer’s coping and adaptive behavior toward drought and to determine its negative effects on agriculture in the northwest of Balochistan. Drought is the most devastating disaster which not only affects agriculture but also livestock, humans and other sectors. To achieve the desire objectives, 264 farmers were selected and interviewed personally through multistage sampling. In addition, weighted average index, adaption strategy index has also been employed. The worse climatic condition had led to crop failure, decline in crop production, water scarcity and loss of livestock. Farmers employed number of techniques to cope with the climatic stress that include, crop diversification, efficient water management, input adjustment, asset depletion and consumption smoothing etc. There is a need of a more resilient strategies to decrease the vulnerability of drought and cultivate climate resilient crops that can be sustained with low water and give high production.