Household’s Agricultural Vulnerability to Climate Induced Disasters: A Case on South-west Coastal Bangladesh

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess household’s agricultural vulnerability to climate induced disasters and to identify the indicators of adaptive capacity that determine the vulnerability of south-western coastal household’s in Bangladesh. The vulnerability was calculated by taking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concept through an Agricultural Vulnerability Index (AVI). Then the ordered logit model was employed in order to identify key determinants of agricultural vulnerability to climate induced disasters. A survey of 346 household’s head from the two settlements (181 household’s head from Sutarkhali and 165 household’s head from Nalian) of Sutarkhali Union of Dacope Upazila under Khulna District was used in this study. Findings revealed that the mean score of Sutarkhali was 0.703 (high) in exposure, 0.724 (high) in sensitivity, 0.341 (low) in adaptive capacity and finally, the agricultural vulnerability index (AVI) was 0.695 (high). On the same fashion, Nalian was an average score of 0.697 (high) in exposure, 0.721 (high) in sensitivity, 0.386 (low) in adaptive capacity, and finally 0.677 (high) in agricultural vulnerability index (AVI). Annual savings, formal education, ownership of livestock, improved seeds supply, access to irrigation pump, improved crop diversification/ High Yielding Variety (HYV) crops, access to large farm size and access to farm credit were found to be statistically significant indicators of adaptive capacity that determine agricultural vulnerability of the both study sites. Finally it is recommended that the intervention required for coastal adaptation of agriculture should be initiated by respective authorities.