Drought Vulnerability Assessment of Farming Communities in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka: A Community Capital Framework Analysis

Drought is a climate-induced natural hazard transformed into a disaster in Sri Lanka. North Central Province (NCP) is frequently undergoing droughts. The objective was to assess social vulnerability among farming communities adapting the Community Capital Framework (CCF). Three divisional secretariat divisions (DSD), Mahawillachhciya, Kahatagasdigiliya, and Medirigiriya, were selected as the sampling areas. A sample from farming households (356) was determined using Slovin’s formula. Responses were collected as Yes and No answers, then converted into 0–1 as No = 0, Yes = 1, and calculated the average of the unweighted sum of the variables representing each capital, which represents the capital index values proposed by Bennett (2012). The results highlighted that the capitals of human and political belong to the very high vulnerability for all three areas. Capitals of cultural, Natural, Financial, and Technological come under high vulnerability, while social, built, and spiritual capitals belong to medium vulnerability. There is a significant variation of vulnerability among the three farming communities related to capitals of social (P = 0.020), natural (P = 0.044), built (P = 0.007), and spiritual (P = 0.001). Farmers should be strengthened in terms of capital belonging to high and very high vulnerability categories with suitable programs to build the resilience of the farming communities of the NCP.