Social vulnerability to agricultural drought: Insights from Northern Cape, South Africa

Understanding the complexities of catastrophe susceptibility, including that caused by agricultural droughts, is crucial to disaster risk reduction. This paper assessed and identified the social vulnerability of smallholder livestock farmers in South Africa's Northern Cape Province to agricultural drought using survey data, the social vulnerability index (SVI), and the Bogardi, Birkman, and Cardona (BBC) conceptual framework. The SVI for Northern Cape Province, with a Likert scale score of 3.5, indicated high vulnerability. Variables such as cultural values and practices, and security were the major contributors to social vulnerability to agricultural drought (very high SVI score of 5). Farmers' age, gender participation (power imbalance between men and women in decision-making), psychological stress, and external assistance all contributed to social vulnerability to agricultural drought with an SVI score of 4. With an SVI score of 3, social reliance and education level also contributed to societal vulnerability to agricultural drought. Preparedness strategies and indigenous knowledge had an SVI score of 2, indicating low vulnerability and positively contributing to agricultural drought resilience. The study recommends that stock theft and farm attacks should be reduced by enhancing or improving livestock and farm security. The government and other stakeholders should educate farmers to enhance their knowledge by understanding the advantages and disadvantages of cultural values and practices. This could be accomplished by enlisting the help of key industry players.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )