Analysis of rural households? resilience to drought in Iran, case study: Bajestan County

In recent years, drought has caused significant damage to the national economic structure and constantly threatened the livelihoods and assets of rural and agricultural economic actors. Therefore; to reduce the deteriorating effects of drought, resilience enhancement has been pro-posed as one of the novel and successful strategies. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the resilience of rural settlements in Bajestan County to drought. The survey research method was used through a questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed using the experts' opinions, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. The population of the study comprises 4764 rural households in Bajestan County. Number 302 samples were distributed, and 242 questionnaires were completed and returned. One-sample t-test findings indicated that the resilience of the villages in the study area to drought is lower than average with a 99% significance. In terms of dimensions, psychological resilience has the highest value, and environmental resilience has the lowest value. According to the results of structural equation modeling that among the observed external components of resilience, livelihood diversity, local skills and knowledge, hope for the future, production technology and infrastructure, rules and regulations, organizational structure and land consoli-dation, and drought management are the most effective components for the resilience of the rural households to drought.