Abstract:
This Paper was focused about the impacts of drought on socio-economic situation of farmers in
some drought prone pocket area of north western Ethiopia: the case of Beyeda woreda, North
Gondar zone, Amhara regional state The main objective of the study was (1) to identify the
causes of drought and its corressponding severities, (2) To explore the impacts of drought
induced hazards on farmers’ socio-economic situation (3) To evaluate local and institutional
adaptation strategies of drought. For this study the researcher employed both purposive and
random sampling technique for selecting study area and sample households. Among the 17
kebeles in Beyeda woreda, Wana Mariam and Segenet were taken as sample kebeles. Data were
collected using field observation, focus group discussion and questionnaire with 132 households
from local people, government officials and experts. The secondary data was also taken from
published and unpublished sources. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and
quantitative data. The result showed that majority of the respondents perceived the impacts of
drought on their socio-economic situation and also they believed that drought can be adapted
with its proper adaptation strategies. In order to minimize and cope with the problems of
drought on agricultural production, small scale irrigation and water harvest, early and late
planting, income diversification, applying drought tolerant crops and saving are the existing
adaptation measure. The study suggests that there should be unreserved government and rural
community effort to address the existing challenges of drought through short term and long term
adaptation measures.
