Coping Strategies during Drought Situation:A Case of Dry Land Farmers in Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh, India

Objectives: The present study has been constituted to assess the coping mechanism strategies of the dry land farmers in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

Methods/ Statistical analysis: To get a complete understanding of the problems prevailing agriculture in dryland areas and the constraints that the farmers face analyse the same. A proportionate sample of 600 farm households from a dissimilar group of Rayalaseema region is chosen from the list of farm households for primary study. The selection of Mandals and villages are based on coverage of drought and drought proneness and also based on rainfall criterion. The sample villages are highly rain fed areas.

Findings: The present study provides the insides from twenty-four villages from the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The inside from the present micro-level analysis indicates that the adverse impact of drought at the household level. Crop loss was observed to be high in most of the villages. Further, the burden of income loss forced the people into the poverty trap during that period, while the lack of resources and non-existence of institutional support during the drought period adversely affected the income of the families. At that place were local-level coping strategies adopted by the villagers to overcome the adverse effects of drought; these included sales of stock and assets, shift in occupational diversification, migration and other mechanisms. Yet, the community in the other study village coped with the drought by migrating. This involved a distress-led migration rather than developer-oriented migration. People with a few assets, such as smaller landholding size, absence of irrigation, and deficiency of other assets, namely livestock, migrated more compared to the others.

Applications: The present study attempted to analyze the different coping mechanisms adopted, at the household level. Realizing the impact of drought and the coping strategies might provide better inputs for the policy implication.