Investigating Effects of Drought on Rural Economic Structure Using Factor Analysis (Case Study: Golab Dehestan of Kashan County)

The ever-growing population and issues related to water scarcity for developing agricultural lands raised concerns about supplying needed water. The studied area has faced several droughts from 2006 on, and such climatic drought has shown its consequences in economic situation of villages in the area, in addition to reduced amount of rainfall. The present study aims to investigate the effects of the drought on the rural economic structure of the studied area, and recommend strategies and solutions for development adapted to drought and water scarcity conditions in the region in order to be assured of rural livelihoods based on capabilities of the region.
This study is a descriptive-analytic and causal-field study. Considering the region’s total population (1809 persons), 317 questionnaires were completed by the inhabitants of two villages of Azaran and Varkan in the studied area. Gis and SPSS softwares were also used for statistical analyses (factor analysis model).
The results gained from the factor analysis of the effects of the drought on the economic dimensions in the region can be categorized into 5 major components, which have 54.452%, 21.271%, 10.112%, 10.031%, and 4.001% variance, respectively. To develop agriculture and reduce the impacts of such crisis on the economy of the region, three main strategies were presented using factor analysis and the extracted components with variances of 27.113%, 25.241%, and 23.930%.