Explaining farmers' perceptions of the concept of drought and strategies to deal with it in Bavi County

This research investigates the barriers farmers face in adapting to drought. The statistical population comprises all farmers in Bavi County. Using cluster sampling with proportional assignment based on the Kerjesi and Morgan table, a sample size of 350 farmers was selected. The primary research tool was a questionnaire with a Likert scale, validated by a group of subject experts and confirmed for reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics via SPSS and Lisrel software. The results indicated that some farmers lacked a proper understanding of drought, rainfall, and temperature patterns in the region. Moreover, "land leveling" and "use of local knowledge" emerged as the most important strategies for adapting to drought. The main obstacles identified were "lack of access to timely weather information" and "lack of access to water resources." Finally, confirmatory factor analysis classified the obstacles into economic, infrastructural, technical and informational, and social-human factors.