Drought Shocks of Farm Households: Evidence from Rajshahi District

The main purpose of the study was to examine the extent of shocks faced by the farm households in drought period and to identify factors that affect drought shocks of farm households in three selected area of Tanore upazila of Rajshahi district in Bangladesh. Data were collected using interview schedule from a sample of 150 drought affected farm households selected by using simple random sampling technique from a population of 499 drought affected farm households during August to September 2011. Drought shocks were measured by a four-point rating scale. Drought shocks index was computed by adding all scores obtained from 10 types of drought shocks. Correlation test was used to ascertain the relationships between each of the concerned variables and extent of drought shocks faced by the farm households. A vast majority of the farm households (83%) exposed with a high extent of drought shocks. The analysis of variance indicated that drought shocks of farm households varied significantly with formal education and household income. Six characteristics of the farm household namely formal education, earning members, family farm size, household income, household assets and cash savings had significant but negative relationship with extent of drought shocks. On the other hand age of the farm household heads and indebtedness of the farm household had significant positive relationships with the extent of drought shocks. The step-wise multiple regression analysis showed that formal education and cash savings had positive influences while indebtedness had negative influences on drought shocks of farm households.