Drought Management Strategies among Wheat Producers in Kermanshah Province

Iran is located in dry region with limited precipitation. Therefore¡ drought is a recurrent event in the country. Using drought management strategies can enhance farmer''s adaptive capacity. Thus¡ any drought intervention approaches should take drought management practices in to consideration. This in turn would enhance farmers’ resilience and reduce vulnerability. The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine wheat farmers’ drought management strategies in Kermanshah Province during 2007- 2011. A population consisted of 370 wheat farmers in which 248 questionnaires distributed among wheat farmers using multi-stage stratified sampling. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that farmers mostly used the following drought management strategies: praying¡ hope for better future¡ talking to friends¡ using prior experience¡ appropriate planting date¡ reducing expenses¡ borrowing money from friends and relatives¡ controlling for weeds¡ using indigenous knowledge in predicting weather¡ communicating with extension specialists. Moreover¡ farmers used different resources to gain knowledge about drought management strategies. For example¡ using other farmers in the community¡ extension specialist¡ friends and neighbors. Results of this study have implications for drought management policy makers. For example¡ a realistic preventive program can be designed in the future.