جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « خشکسالی » در نشریات گروه « علوم ترویج »

Rural business is one of the types of businesses that nowadays, due to the reconstruction of functional patterns of many rural areas and also the design of new tourism businesses in rural areas is one of the most dynamic aspects of entrepreneurship. Activities that are formed in tourism destinations with goals such as improving livelihoods and economic well-being sound to be the best ways to deal with these risks of economic shocks and imbalances to improve their resilience. Resilience is the capacity of society to withstand risks and abnormal conditions and return to normal conditions. Considering that tourism is an important and dominant economic sector in some countries and some destinations are dependent on this sector for growth and survival, relying on this sector has put a lot of pressure on tourism managers and planners in order to protect the business and the tourism community against crises and disasters and has led to the presentation of strategic plans to deal with its possible consequences. Therefore, in an important and growing economic activity such as tourism, it is necessary to understand and recognize the dimensions of the accident and crisis and to examine strategies to stop or limit its consequences. In this regard, business resilience and resilience planning are a comprehensive approach. To realize the development of tourist communities and reduce the possibility of instability caused by the occurrence of disruptive conditions in the normal process of these businesses, the most common perspective of resilience in tourism is on the marketing of the tourism industry and the number of incoming tourists to the destination due to the rapid change of variables caused by unexpected or predictable events and its impact on the economy and tourism businesses. In fact, the resilience of tourism may pay attention to the changes in social, environmental and economic variables that make up  tourism in an integrated way, but the ultimate goal of paying attention to it should be to create the resilience of businesses related to these variables against external fragile events.

The current research is applied in terms of its nature and descriptive-analytical in terms of survey-based method. The data collection tool for each item was through a questionnaire. The required variables of this research were selected using the study of reliable scientific sources and field study from the study area. In this research, the questions related to the variables of the questionnaire are set using a 5-option Likert scale from very high to very low. The unit of analysis in this research is the business owners related to the tourism sector in the rural areas around Urmia Lake in Shabestar city. In order to determine the reliability of the questionnaire, a number of 30 questionnaires were distributed in the region and the reliability coefficient of resilience was estimated at 0.87, which indicates that the mentioned questionnaire has adequate reliability. Also, based on Cochran's sampling formula, the sample size was 350 people from business owners related to the tourism sector. The data needed for the research was also collected through a simple random sampling method.

The descriptive findings of the research, based on 350 questionnaires distributed among the sample size, indicate that 319 were men and 31 were women. The highest frequency of respondents was 156 people in the category of 41-50 years, which accounted for 45% of the sample size. In terms of level of education, among the four levels of education, elementary and illiterate, under-diploma, post-diploma, bachelor and above, the highest frequency of respondents with 194 people, equal to 55%, was in the diploma level. One sample t-test was used to investigate the resilience of villages in four dimensions. The general results of the one-sided t-test for the resilience of the villages show an average of 1.68. Considering that the average observed resilience of the villages is less than 3, which corresponds to the average level of the Likert spectrum, so it can be said that the overall resilience situation in the studied villages is evaluated at a low level of resilience. According to the results of the one-sided t-test, the average of social capital dimension was 2.11, economic 1.22, human capital 2.16, and management institution 1.23. The significance level of all the indicators is lower than the test error level of 5% and the average of all dimensions are not at the optimal level and this issue is effective in reducing the resilience of the studied villages.

The results of the research based on the one-sided t-test indicate that the general situation of resilience is not very favorable. The general results of the one-sided t-test for the resilience status of the studied villages show an average of 1.68. Considering that the average observed resilience of the villages is less than 3, which corresponds to the average level of the Likert scale, it can be said that the overall resilience situation in the studied villages is evaluated at a very low level of resilience. Dimensions of resilience from the villagers' point of view have different averages, so that the highest average is related to the institutional and human capital (2.16) and the lowest average is related to the economic dimension (1.22). The stratification of the 7 studied villages based on Mirka's decision-making technique shows that based on the score (Q) Ali Biglo, Qara Tapeh and Kafi al-Mulk villages are at the medium resilience level, Sheikh Wali and Koushak villages are at the low resilience level and Haft Cheshme and Maraghosh Qala villages are at a very low level of resilience.

The present research was conducted in order to investigate the effective factors on reducing the effects of drought in corn cultivation and to provide extensional-educational solutions in Azadi village (of Andimshek county). The statistical population was formed by all the corn growers of Azadi district in the crop year of 2021-2022, which were equal to 600 people. The sampling method was random and the samples were selected from among the people of the society in a simple random manner. To determine the sample size due to the limited statistical population, the Karjesi-Morgan formula was used, and according to the Karjesi-Morgan table, 237 people were selected. The data collection tool is a researcher-made questionnaire Data analysis using software SPSS Ver. 26 was done. The results of the T test showed that there is a significant difference at the level of 95% between farmers' knowledge and awareness (technical knowledge), human factors, management factors, economic factors, extensional-educational strategies and farmers' attitude towards reducing damage caused by drought with mean average of the population. They can minimize the damage caused by drought. Based on the structural model (PLS), the technical knowledge of corn farmers, management factors and educational-promotional strategies had the greatest effect on reducing the damage caused by drought, so that the value of the path coefficient for them was equal to 0.378, 0.359 and 314. Also, the path coefficient of human factors and economic factors were equal to 0.142 and 0.129, respectively, which had less effect on reducing the effects of drought.

Drought is a complex natural catastrophe with no universally accepted definition. Each definition reflects the differences in regions, needs, and disciplinary approaches. Some consider the definition of drought as an agricultural drought that has become a serious threat to food security while deeply affecting production and farmers’ livelihood. Farmers in some regions have greater exposure to drought than others, and farmers in each region face their own unique set of challenges. As a result, coping behaviors and strategies used by different farmers are very different than their risk management. Recent efforts have recognized the importance of applying risk reduction behaviors, both during and after the drought, to prevent environmental problems. It would be necessary to focus on the promotion of appropriate drought management practices among farmers to achieve a more sustainable and environmentally alternative livelihood where pro-environmental behavior is set as a core factor. Thus, when investigating a sustainable alternative livelihood where pro-environmental behavior is set as a core factor, it is necessary to focus on the promotion of drought management practices among smallholder farmers. Further, using institutional drought management mechanisms as effective factors to improve sustainable livelihood under drought is very appropriate.

From a holistic sustainable livelihood perspective, these mechanisms might be divided into three categories: integrated drought risk management, comprehensive reduction of damages, and control the consequences based on indigenous knowledge, that reduce vulnerability and attempt to change the surroundings under drought. Thus, in this study, we aim to use the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explain farmers’ pro-environmental behavior, and we subsequently apply our conceptualization of the PTM to explain the effects of pro-environmental behavior as well as some institutional management mechanisms to achieve a sustainable livelihood in the Borkhar-Isfahan region of Iran. The PMT, a general theory of persuasive communication that incorporates individual and social factors, provides a set of predictors for human behavior, which balances two main processes, threat appraisal and coping appraisal. The threat appraisal process involves individual assessment of threat levels and includes two constructs: a) perceived severity and b) perceived vulnerability. In this study, perceived severity is conceptualized as the degree to which smallholder farmers perceive the effects of drought. The coping appraisal process also involves individual assessment of internal and external factors and includes three constructs: a) self-efficacy, b) response efficacy, and c) response costs. Farmers perceived self-efficacy have a positive and direct effect on their actual farming and non-farming practices in a drought. Response efficacy refers to an individual's belief; in this case, farmers evaluate the types of adaptive behaviors and various measures to deal with the threat. However, in this study, based on the research framework, farmers’ pro-environmental behaviors are influenced by two threat appraisal factors, and three coping appraisal factors. Furthermore, sustainable alternative livelihood is directly determined by pro-environmental behavior and institutional management mechanisms.This paper specifically focuses on a semi-arid region of Borkhar-Isfahan region of Iran, and smallholder farmers living in Borkhar region are generally some of the most ecologically, socially, and politically marginalized people. The population of this study was comprised of rural smallholder farmers who produce agricultural and horticultural crops under drought between 2018-2020. According to the Isfahan Agriculture-Jahad Organization, there are about 3666 smallholder farmers in the two districts of Borkhar, which consists of 12 villages (N=3666). The study sample consisted of 293 farmers, based on Cochran’s formula, and was selected through stratified random sampling (n=293). Data were collected with a questionnaire consisting of four sections: 1) demographic characteristics, 2) pro-environmental behavior, 3) institutional management mechanisms, and 4) sustainable alternative livelihoods. The sub-scales were developed based on a 5-point Likert scale. The questions of these sections werederived from the research framework, confirmed by the previous studies and then modified to fit the objectives of this study. The questionnaire validity and reliability were measured through a pre-test. Then, descriptive analysis was done using SPSS and to testing the research model, this study also used the partial least squares (PLS) technique of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Smart-PLS.

Results show that self-efficacy, perceived vulnerability, and response efficacy have significant positive effects on the farmers’ pro-environmental behavior under drought. Moreover, self-efficacy has the greatest direct role in explaining farmers’ pro-environmental behavior. Also, based on confirmatory factor analysis, “ability to implement best practices to improve farm management” accrued the highest loadings and is the main indicator for explaining self-efficacy. Furthermore, the results revealed that perceived vulnerability significantly influenced farmers' pro-environmental behavior. Based on confirmatory factor analysis, “possible threat to food security” is the main indicator for explaining perceived vulnerability. Thus, understanding vulnerability to environmental issues raises farmers’ awareness and attitudes toward prevention effects; therefore, when farmers’ perceptions of vulnerability are very high, it increases the likelihood of an adaptive response. Our results also show that perceived severity and response costs have a significant negative influence on the farmers’ pro-environmental behavior. Threat appraisal is based on weighing the benefits of not engaging in pro-environmental behavior under drought. Thus, the greater the severity of the risk perceived by individuals, the more it reduces the likelihood of drought coping behaviors. Also, the study showed that response costs have a negative effect on pro-environmental behavior. So, whenever response costs decreased, the higher perceived costs of pro-environmental practices reduce the probability of protective behavior. Therefore, when a farmer evaluates the implementation of an environmental behavior as laborious, expensive, unpleasant, time-consuming, he will be reluctant to implement it. The findings further show that farmers' pro-environmental behavior and integrated drought risk management are the main predictors of achieving a sustainable alternative livelihood. Moreover, conservation of natural habitats and biodiversity, and providing the necessary training to increase farmers’ knowledge and skills, were found to be highly important indicators that enhance sustainable livelihood under drought. Therefore, concentrating on efforts and shifting the focus to these indicators lead to increased farmer’s livelihood resilience in the long run.

The drought phenomenon in recent years has severely affected agricultural production and food security. Farmers also use urban wastewater to continue production, maintain viability, and supply irrigation water to farms. This is despite the fact that farmers may not have enough knowledge about the risks of using urban wastewater. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of farmers' viability in drought conditions and the perceived social risks on their behavior of using urban wastewater. This study was conducted among the farmers of Sistan region. A sample of 361 farmers was taken by the stratified random sampling. The research instrument was a questionnaire which its content and face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts and discriminant validity. In addition, using Cronbach's alpha and the composite reliability indices, the reliability of research tool was approved. Data processing was done using SPSSwin23 and AMOS22 software. The results showed that the indicators used for the measurement of the research variables were acceptably consistent with the factor structure and theoretical underpinning of the research. The results indicated that the means of the activist public-sphere behaviors, non-activist public-sphere behaviors, private-sphere behaviors, and organizational behaviors were significantly lower than the mean interval of the variables. The findings of the structural equation modeling showed that farmers' viability in drought conditions and perceived social risks have had a significant effect on their behavior of using urban wastewater. Furthermore, 75.8% of the variance of farmers’ behavior of using urban wastewater was captured by their viability in drought conditions and perceived social risks.

Agriculture as the main source of livelihood for rural residents of the developing countries is inherently sensitive to climate variability and change. Among different climatic events, drought is frequently identified as a major threat to agricultural. In order to reduce the negative impacts of drought on livelihoods, increasing the resilience of farmers is necessary. Improving the sustainable livelihoods of rural people has received growing attention during last decades and is one of the main goals of sustainable rural development. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate and analyze the resilience of farmers and provide livelihood strategies in the central part of Shazand County based on random sampling of 12 villages. The aforementioned villages to assess the resilience, the four dimensions of economic, social, and institutional infrastructure based environmental were used based on the sustainable livelihood framework, was used. The findings of the study showed that the farmers' resilience to drought conditions is in unsustainable economic and institutional dimensions and in the environmental and social indicators of a stable situation. The results of cluster analysis method, five livelihood strategies for compensating and resilient farmers against drought including the first strategy for deep-seated agriculture and increasing productivity, second, third and fourth strategies for diversification into non-agricultural and domestic activities and ultimately the strategy. Fifth, based on the desire to migrate, was identified and presented.

The aim of this study was to assess the level of sustainability of livelihoods of rural households in Selseleh city under drought conditions. This research is applied in terms of purpose and data collection. The statistical population of the study was the heads of rural households in Selseleh county (N = 10888). Using Krejcie and Morgan table, the statistical sample size was estimated 379 cases. In order to select the samples, a multi-stage sampling method was employed. The analytical framework used in this study was a sustainable livelihood framework. Stability radar method was used to calculate the level of stability. The results of the research showed that out of the five livelihood capitals, four human, natural, social, and financial capitals are of average level of sustainability. In addition, the results revealed that physical capital is in a potential sustainability state. The final results of measuring the level of sustainability among the sub-counties of Selseleh city indicated that with the highest and lowest scores, Firouzabad and Honam were the most and the least sustainable sub-counties in the studied region, respectively. Based on the findings, it is suggested that more planning be done in order to increase the financial capital and improve the access of rural households to financial resources such as low interest loans and long-term installments. Also, the necessary measures should be taken into consideration to correct the current process of allocating drought credits so that the less fortunate and poor households can benefit from such facilities in a fair way.

Climate change and drought have greatly affected the vulnerability of rural households. This study aimed to Analyzing the vulnerability of rural households in Fars province of Iran for food insecurity under drought and also analyzing their adaptive responses to drought in terms of attitude and action. It was a survey research and data was collected from a sample of population based on the stratified random sampling. The sample population was 270 respondents from Fars Province by using Shaffer formula. The data was analyzed by using SPSS and AMOS software. Based on the results, the vulnerability of rural households in Fars province to drought is above average, which sensitivity factor has the highest effect on vulnerability of rural households. Also, the results of the study showed that the most effective adaptation strategies to reduce of drought Consequences are significantly dependent on government support. However, less vulnerable households have more strategic options for coping with the consequences of drought. Cluster analysis indicated that based on the two groups of respondents with the low and high vulnerability that According to it, the studied rural households were compared in terms of some characteristics.

Drought, as one of the environmental hazards, has harmful effects on the environment. This study aimed at investigating the drought trends and their effects on the economic, social and environmental situations of the rural settlements of Kurdistan province in Iran. It was conducted in a descriptive-analytical method. The statistical population consisted of 384 household heads of the province. In order to determine the drought status, in the first place, the precipitation over a period of 27 years (1987-2014) was investigated on the basis of Standard Precipitation index (SPI); then, the effects and consequences of droughts were explained in a survey method through a questionnaire. Results of SPI showed that the counties of Ghorveh with 19, Bijar and Sanandaj each one with 17, Saqez and Baneh each one with 16, Zarrineh with 15 and Marivan with 14 years had experienced mild to severe droughts. Factor analysis results indicated that the economic, environmental and social factors could explain 55.03 percent of total variance (22.91 percent for the economic, 17.27 percent for the environmental and 14.85 percent for the social factors); in addition, three variables including decrease in income level with 0.782, decrease in spring water discharge with 0.705 and migration with 0.766 percent had the most drought effects. In order to improve the livelihood and sustainability of the rural settlements, the use of dam water storage, development of horticultural system, training the farmers to diversify the rural occupations and jobs are some of the recommended solutions.

Drought is one of the most important natural threats and disasters that has a significant impact on ecosystems, people's livelihoods, and the economic and social development of the countries. Farmers' vulnerability to drought can vary with respect to the location of living and the type of agricultural products. Therefore, most vulnerable areas should be identified to be able to better management of the drought phenomenon and mitigation of farmers' vulnerability. However, less attention has been paid to the social dimensions of farmers' vulnerability in the previous literature. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to assess social vulnerability towards drought across three counties of Kermanshah Province where in the intensity of drought is extremely high, moderate, and light. The sample size was determined based on Krejcie and Morgan (n= 375) and multi-stage stratified sampling was performed to select the individual samples. The formula proposed by May Bar and Valdes was applied to assess the social vulnerability of farmers. According to the results, it can be mentioned that the indices crop diversity, participation, stress, nutritional status, irrigation system method, warning system, and knowledge of drought response measures had the greatest impacts on the social vulnerability of farmers. In addition, farmers of Giulan-e-Gharb experienced the greatest social vulnerability.

Lack of access to adequate energy and the prevalence of undernourishment are of the most important issues in the developing world due to their impacts on public health and individual’s physical and mental abilities in society. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the impacts of drought, food production diversity and different household characteristics on the prevalence of undernourishment in rural areas of Iran. For this purpose, panel quantile regression was considered as the best technique to estimate the impacts of social and economic indicators on the prevalence of undernourishment during the period of 2012-2016. The main results indicated that among the household characteristics, increase in household income, share of food in household expenditure and age of household head and among the environmental indicators, increase in food production diversity would prevent the prevalence of undernourishment in studied rural households; on the other hand, increase in household size, education expenditure, drought severity, and food price indexes would increase the prevalence of undernourishment. Based on these results, non-agricultural income tax exemptions in the rural areas and redistribution of current subsidies by focusing on highly malnourished areas as well as focusing on large rural households, providing policies that reduce the impacts of drought on food production and ultimately, promoting the strategies that allow for increased diversification of food production at the household level could be suggested to prevent further malnutrition in the rural areas.

Recent droughts in Iran have affected the agricultural and rural sector, followed by different response among rural people of the country. Increasing the likelihood of rural youth migration to cities is one of their reactions in this regard. Measuring the impact of drought on the rural youth migration intentions can provide better insights for rural and agricultural policymakers and planners. The statistical population of this descriptive correlational study included all the rural youth aged 15 to 29 in Hamadan County of Iran. Using Cochran sampling formula, 237 young people were detemined as the sample size and selected in a multistage randomized sampling method. The research instrument was a questionnare with several sections, the validity and reliability of which were respectively confirmed by expert opinions and a pilot study with Cronbach's alpha calculation (0.85) for the composite index. The results showed that 53.2 percent of the rural youth intended to migrate within the next one or two years; also, the migration intention of 63.8 percent of them in next few years was at a moderate to high level; the sane extent stated by ninety percent of the rural youth as the implications of drought for their livelihoods. Correlation analysis indicated the rural youth migration intention’s significantly positive relations with the variables of drought implications, land ownership, number of household nenbers and their education as well as its significantly negative relations with the variables of the rural youth’s behavioural control, attitude toward agriculture and age. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis also showed that the five variables including attitude toward agriculture, educational level, behavioral control, drought implications and age explained 27.7 percent of variance of the rural youth migration intention.

Climate change along with mismanagement in the Lake Urmia Basin have caused a severe decline in the its water balance. The continuation of this trend and drying up of the lake have had negative effects on all aspects of life and livelihood of the neighboring provinces. Accurate and comprehensive understanding of these effects from the viewpoint of the villagers and experts provides a basis for forming a correct understanding for planners and authorities to manage this crisis. The purpose of this study was to identify the direct and indirect impact of drying Lake Urmia on livelihoods of rural households. A qualitative approach and the Granded theory method were used for data collection and analysis. The villagers and rural experts of East and West Azerbaijan provinces were the statistical population of the study that were selected through purposive sampling. The finding resulted in 213 direct and indirect impacts for drying the lake. In the axial coding phase, seven core categories including: the decline in quantity and quality of soil and water resources, the threat to social capital, the threat to livelihoods, job security and migration, threat to food security, animal health and their performance, involvement of outside institutions in rural planning, attitudinal, and knowledge change, and climate change increase were extracted and categorized. In selective coding phase, the relationships away categorise were identified and explained. The results showed that drying Lake Urmia had negative impact on all aspects of sustainable rural livelihood and the results of this study can be insightful in effectively management and empowerment of the villagers.

Drought is a recurrent socio-natural hazard that increases its magnitude due to climate change. The main objective of this study was to identify farmers' perceptions of drought and their stratagems for dealing with this weather change event. For this purpose, 250 farmers in the Mohr county, south of Fars province, were selected by stratified random sampling and were interviewed using a researcher-made questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by agricultural extension and development experts, and their reliability was confirmed by pilot study and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the perception of drought can be attributed to four factors, namely experience, memory, expectation and definition, which in totally these factors explain more than 71 percent of the variance of drought perception. Another finding of this study indicated that farmers have used various strategies such as farm production management, water demand management, financial management, production technology management, water supply management, soil management and reactive management to deal with this climatic event. Moreover, the relationship between drought perception and dealing strategies was positive and significant. In addition, the results of ANOVA test showed that perceptual clusters had a significant difference in terms of dealing strategies; So that farmers with a high level of perception (third cluster), in comparison with other groups, had a higher mean in this regard. The results of this study can be effective to understanding the social aspects of agricultural societies and planning for public and private adaptation/mitigation strategies to drought.

The purpose of this study was to explain the role of communication channels on farmers' adaptation intention towards drought using planning behavior theory. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire which its validity and reliability were confirmed by a group of subject specialists and doing a pre-study and calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, respectively. The population of this study consisted of farmers in the central part of Marvdasht township (N=8602), of which 367 individuals were estimated using Krejcie and Morgan tables and using random sampling method Simple were selected. The results indicated that there is a meaningful difference in adaptation’s behavioral intention towards drought based on the communication channels they have been used. According to the findings, the highest average of behavioral intention was related to the television and agricultural experts at the same time. Also, the results showed that the least average behavioral intention was related to friends and relatives. This finding also confirmed by the Bonferoni sequence test. Finally, the effect of each variable of the theory of planned behavior on the behavioral intention of the respondents based on each communication channels determined. The results indicated that the subjective norm influences on respondent's behavioral intention in all communication channels. According to the findings, some suggestions were made for the proper decision making of using communication channels in order to prepare for climate change.

Droughts, as the most complex natural disasters, affect the lives of many rural inhabitants with a farm-dependent economy. This study aimed at analyzing the economic and social effects of drought on rural communities in Semnan County of Iran. It was a descriptive-analytic research. Statistical population included the heads of households in villages of the County; and accordingly, the sample size was estimated 340 people through Cochran formula. The sampling was conducted in a stratified sampling method. The study was mainly conducted through a questionnaire, the validity of which was obtained by using a panel of experts and masters in agriculture, and its reliability was confirmed by a pre-test through the Cronbach's alpha (0.946). According to the results of exploratory factor analysis, the content of economic and social effects of drought was mainly categorized into four components, including: livelihood crisis, production stagnation and weakened agriculture, cultural and psychological, and social and participatory factors that explain about 55.812 percent of the variations in economic and social effects of drought. Based on the study findings, some recommendations were made to reduce the economic and social effects of drought on the studied rural community and to improve policy making as well as the management of this phenomenon.

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.

This study aimed at evaluating the impact of drought on the economic status and livelihood of the rural households in collective operation units (cooperatives) in Fasa county of Iran. The effects of drought on the employment status, production performance, production costs and satisfaction with income were formulated within four hypotheses. A descriptive-analytical research method was used and the study population included 248 joint cooperatives of the county, with all the supervisors of the units being surveyed using the complete enumeration method. The required data were collected through a self-designed questionnaire. The hypotheses were tested using Wilcoxon statistic. The results showed that drought had a negative effect on the livelihood of rural households who were the members of these cooperatives. The Wilcoxon statistic values for all dimensions at an error level smaller than 0.05 indicated a significant difference between the rural people's livelihoods before and after the drought .

Knowledge of what farmers do in response to these events can broaden adaptation options and improve resilience within the sector. Among other dimensions it is assumed that psychological issues play an important role in predicting farmers’ intentions and actual responses. In this context, a study was carried out to identify the most prominent drivers of, and impediments to, drought adaptation, using social cognitive theory. A sample of 233 farmers who were members of agriculture cooperative in Dehloran, Illam was selected through a multi-stage random sampling method. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a group of experts. The reliability of the main scales of the questionnaires’ was examined by Cronbach Alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.65 to 0.83, indicated the instrument was reliable. Findings revealed that farmers’ intention to responses of drought was predicted mainly by self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, extrinsic perceived behavioral control and behavior of other friends. Moreover, outcome expectancy and intention were the determinant of farmers’ actual responses to drought. These findings provided recommendations on factors important to adaptation with drought among farmers in Iran.

The current drought in Esfahan Township and damages incurred on agricultural sector clearly indicate that vulnerability among farmers is increasing. However, limited attention has been paid to drought mitigation and preparedness across the affected area. Therefore, it is imperative to study vulnerable group which is the bench mark in drought risk management the predictors of vulnerability among farmers in Isfahan Township. In this study used survey research design and data was collected from 275 wheat farmers using multistage stratified sampling through questionnaire and personal interview with farmers whom has experienced drought. Farmer's vulnerability was determined using Mebar & Valdez (2005). Results revealed that farmers in Jarghooyeh Olya had the highest vulnerability (3.77) and farmers in Bon Rood had the lowest vulnerability (3.32). Results of this study have implications for policy makers in distributing resources to farmers with high vulnerability. Innovation of this paper is to quantify the vulnerability of rural communities using formula and the ranking these communities based on the vulnerability. Thus vulnerability assessment could be basic to the allocation of resources and funds.