Farmer's Livelihood Vulnerability Caused by Drought: The Case of Hirmand County

Hirmand County is prone to drought and has been impacted severely during recent years. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the vulnerability of Hirmand farmers caused by drought. Statistical population for this study were 302 wheat grower households resided in rural areas of two districts of the county, more drought-prone area (Ghorghori district) versus less drought- prone area (Central district). This study is based on primary sources of data collected from 170 farm households following a structured survey designed based on Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI). Questionnaire’s validity was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of different scales which used in the study was measured by Kuder–Richardson coefficient which was ranged from 0.52-0.63. SPSS22 and EXEL software’s were used for data analysis. Results revealed that social, economic and environmental vulnerability of rural households resided in Ghorghori district were more in comparison to their counterparts in Central district of the county. Results suggest that Ghorghori district was more vulnerable in terms of water in environmental and social networks in terms of social vulnerability. Findings shed light on the appropriateness of this pragmatic approach to monitor vulnerability, resources and potential solutions to cope with drought situations in data-scarce regions.