Communication access and drought response strategies among rural farming households in Somaliland

Recurrent droughts threaten rural livelihoods in Somaliland; however, the role of communication access in household drought responses remains poorly understood. This study examined the associations between drought-related communication access, communication barriers, and household drought response engagement among 438 rural farming households across Awdal, Maroodijeex, Sahil, and Togdheer. A cross-sectional survey with multistage sampling was employed, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Poisson regression with robust standard errors. More than half of the households (51.8%) had no access to any of the four communication channels assessed, while the communication access index averaged 0.92 (SD = 1.10; range = 0–4). Households also experienced multiple communication barriers (mean = 2.38, SD = 1.13, range = 0–5). Communication access (β = 0.217, p < 0.001) and barriers (β = 0.211, p < 0.001) were positively associated with drought response engagement. Nonformal education was also positively associated with response engagement (β = 0.347, p < 0.001), whereas sex, age, marital status, household size, and farming system were not significantly associated with the outcome. The unexpected positive association between communication barriers and response engagement requires further investigation. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening access to drought-related communication while addressing telecommunications, awareness, language, distance, and trust barriers to support household drought preparedness in rural Somaliland.