The Analysis of Farmer's Behaviour and Strategies in Dealing with Drought (The case Study: Kermanshah Township)

When a natural disaster hits, the affected households try to cope with its impacts. A variety of coping strategies, from reducing current consumption to disposing of productive assets, may be employed. According to Iran's potential for drought occurrence and the negative consequences of this phenomenon on the rural community development, cognitive mechanisms of the local communities in dealing with drought is the primary objective of this crisis. Considering to importance of the issue, the purpose of this study was to identify and analysis of farmers’ behaviour and environmental attitudes in dealing with drought among 335 farmers in Kermanshah township that by using the Table Krejcie, Morgan, and Two-stage cluster sampling method were selected a sample. The present study is Descriptive-correlation and data were gathered through questionnaire that its validity was confirmed with comments given by experienced experts, and the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed through Cronbach's alpha test (72≥ α ≥85). The results showed that five variables; environmental attitudes, strategy, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and agricultural work experience could explain 51.9 percent of total variances of farmers behavior. Also The results of path analysis showed that three variables; environmental attitudes, subjective norm and the strategy, respectively, with the total impact 0.400, 0.344 and 0.292, aret the most important factors in determining the farmers’ behaviour in dealing with drought and three variables; perceived behavioral control, age and agricultural work experience, respectively, with the total impact 0.169, 0.051 and -0.172 had minimal effect on farmer's behavior.