Agricultural drought assessment for Lalitpur and Datia district using geospatial technology
Student name: Ms Alibha Paul
Guide: Dr Chander Kumar Singh
Year of completion: 2014
Host Organisation: National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr Anil K. Gupta and Mrs Sreeja S. Nair
Abstract: Drought occurs when there is a situation of limited rainfall (which is substantially below the
normal) in an area for an extended period. Bundelkhand region has been facing chronic
droughts and water scarcity and the situation was at grim during the last decades. Agriculture is
the main occupation and hence frequent droughts have affected the livelihood and wellbeing of
rural Bundelkhand. Several developmental programs and schemes including a Bundelkhand
Special Package for mitigation of drought have been implemented in the region based on the
analysis at regional scale. However there is need to understand the frequency and intensity of
agricultural drought and it’s comparison with periods of meteorological drought i.e. periods of
rainfall deficiency. The detailed analysis of the agricultural drought scenario at block level using
3 vegetation indices viz. NDVI, VCI and EVI derived from MODIS and SPOT vegetation data for
2 districts of the region i.e. Lalitpur and Datia has been carried out and the results were
compared with meteorological drought scenario. Results obtained from the analysis of data from
different satellite images are in conformity. However the periods of agricultural droughts are not
in conformity with metrological drought in several instances particularly in Lalitpur district. It
is found that although the frequency and severity of met-drought was more in Lalitpur, Datia
district was affected more by agricultural drought. Further the visual interpretation of the NDVI
and EVI images helped in identifying areas or villages which are chronically affected by drought
although the situation as whole is improving in the region. Key challenge in the study was non
availability of rainfall data at block level for comparison. Detailed analysis at block and village
level will be having implications in identifying the hotspots and prioritizing appropriate
interventions.
Key words - Agricultural Drought, Meteorological Drought, Indices, Block, Severity.
