Agroclimatic Drought Analysis in Mahasamund District of Chhattisgarh, India

Drought is an insidious natural hazard that results from a departure of precipitation from expected or normal and when extended over a season or longer period of time, is insufficient to meet the demands of human, plant and animal activities. Drought can have a serious impact on health, agriculture, economy, energy and the environment. Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate that can occur any where in the world. It is a slow-onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage. The study was conducted to analyze agroclimatic drought in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh. Mahasamund district is chosen for the study on agroclimatic drought analysis and also to examine the farmer's adaptability under AICRPAM-National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project. Two time periods have been taken into account viz., annual and SWM season. Long term rainfall data has been analyzed through Weathercock software and pattern has been drawn through Trend software. Rainfall data for Mahasamund, Bagbahara, Basna, Saraipali, Pithora blocks of Mahasamund district were collected from the Department of Agrometeorology, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Raipur.Study is as a part of CRIDA, (Hyderabad) sponsored NICRA project which has been implemented in Department of Agrometeorology, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur, (C.G.) w.e.f. 2011.The result showed significant increasing trend for high rainfall events in summer and winter season particularly for Mahasamund block. Long term data analysis indicates that only Saraipali blocksufferedfrom agricultural drought while other blocks do not indicate any rabi drought. Drought proofing management and climate resilent technologies like increasingwater use efficiency through micro-irrigation, reorientation of cropping pattern, use of suitable drought tolerant crop cultivars, water harvesting structures, deep summer ploughing followed by surface tilling during rest of year should be propagated among farming community.