Socioeconomic and Environmental Vulnerability of Farmers to Drought: Bakan Plain in Eghlid County of Iran

Fast droughts have an extreme effect on farmers. Useful adaptations make smaller negative impacts of the event and vulnerability evaluations of local socioeconomic ecosystems help to start off the process. This aimed at identifying and assessing the socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability of households in four village clusters of Bakan plain in Eghlid County of Iran. Data were collected on the principal components of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity through face to face interviews with 122 farming households of the rural clusters in summer 2018. These principal components were calculated and integrated to create the vulnerability index. The results revealed significant levels of exposure to drought and sensitivity to this extreme event, but restricted capacities to adapt among spatial clusters, resulting in high socioeconomic and environmental vulnerability. Yet, there was found a variation in the vulnerability among the studied households because of different socioeconomic factors such as their livelihood assets; so, they had few adaptive capacities. Finally, it was recommended to take an adaptation policy to consider the needs of the most vulnerable households via a ‘Poor People First’ approach.