Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Considering the widespread and cross-cultural effects of climate on various production sectors, environmental factors, and human societies, drought is nowadays regarded as one of the most important environmental challenges of the current century. Because of their close relationship with the natural environment and their limited opportunities, rural communities have long been exposed to drought, and farmers in dry and semiarid regions have been applying measures to adapt to and cope with it. The main purpose of this study was to investigate and identify farmers' native methods to reduce the effects of drought. The research method was phenomenological and survey based. The population included villagers in Kangavar County, Kermanshah Province, in Iran. Sampling was done by the targeted and snowflake method. The data collection instrument was an in-depth interview in the qualitative section and a self-designed questionnaire in the quantitative section. The results showed that farmers used different measures for coping with and adapting to drought, including using no-tillage farming; uprooting trees with high water demands; hope and oblation; mulching; reducing, changing, and/or mixing livestock types (reaction behaviors); diversifying the sources of livelihoods; changing cropping patterns; correcting irrigation practices; changing planting time; seeding before the drought; and using water storage techniques (fractional behaviors). In addition, farmers had a weaker capability to cope with the environmental, economic, and social vulnerabilities than with drought. This presented the vulnerability of farmers to drought in all economic, social, and environmental spheres.

With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, disruption of the domestic food supply chain, loss of revenue, and payments that affect food production have led to severe tensions and food security risks in many developing countries. The rural communities are more at risk of food insecurity due to less access to healthcare and social inequality. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security and food diversity of rural households. The sample included 375 household heads living in the rural areas of Khorramabad county, which was determined using a three-stage cluster sampling method. Data were collected using standard Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) questionnaires. The results showed that the food security situation of rural households has deteriorated, and consumption of some food groups changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the multinomial regression model showed that gender, level of education, monthly income, number of employed members, nutrition knowledge, employment status, livestock ownership, and access to credit were significantly associated with the food security of households during the COVID-19 pandemic. The household head's gender, level of education, monthly income, nutrition knowledge, employment status, livestock ownership, and access to credit were significantly associated with dietary diversity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the findings, providing emergency food assistance and cash payments to food-insecure households can reduce the risk of food insecurity in rural households. It is suggested that government policies focus on identifying vulnerable households in rural areas, especially female-headed households, low-income households, and households without a wage income.