Do drought vulnerable farmers adapt more to drought? a case of dry zone paddy farmers in Sri Lanka

Frequent droughts in Sri Lanka have caused production losses in considerable amounts due to reduced water supply for irrigation. Drought adaptation has become imperative. It is important to understand the drought vulnerability and adaptation of farmers in order to propose amicable solutions. This study assessed drought vulnerability of farmers in major and minor irrigation schemes and the relationship of drought vulnerability with adaptation level. Secondary data from Sri Lankan Environmental and Agricultural Decision-making Survey (SEADS) carried out under the Agricultural Decision Making and Adaptation to Precipitation Trends in Sri Lanka project (ADAPT-SL) and meteorological data were used for the study. Based on the definition of Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the integrated approach was used to conceptualize the framework of drought vulnerability where a vulnerability index was defined using adaptive capacity, sensitivity and exposure to drought. IPCC’s concept of adaptation was used to measure the adaptation level. Correlation tests were done to find the relationship among vulnerability and adaptation level and mean comparison tests were carried out to compare farmers in the major and minor irrigation schemes. The study finds that, while farmers in major irrigation scheme are low in drought exposure they are high in adaptive capacity and sensitivity. In contrast, farmers in minor irrigation scheme while high in drought exposure are low in adaptive capacity and sensitivity. According to correlation tests, we find that the vulnerable farmers are low in adaptation level. The mean comparison results showed that the farmers in minor irrigation scheme are highly vulnerable but show low adaptation level to drought than the farmers in major irrigation scheme.