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Agriculture

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Drought Assessment

Abstract

Water availability is the factor most critical in determining plant survival, development, and ultimate productivity. Moisture for crops comes from precipitation and from irrigation (for about 40% of the cropland). Weather risk in agriculture is viewed as the uncertainty created in earnings due to weather variability. Long- term seasonal precipitation trend s always demonstrate a great season-to-season variability with periodic droughts, which in turn indicate a periodic risk to crop yield, reduced production, and potential income reduction. In the case of agricultural drought, the disaster results from a deficiency in the available moisture in the soil. Even during drought events of short duration and low intensity, the reduction of seasonal moisture essential for plant growth and development might result in low yields and the possibility of reduced incomes. This chapter highlights the soil, crop water requirement, crop irrigation needs and options under water stress conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India

    R. Nagarajan

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  1. R. Nagarajan
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© 2009 Capital Publishing Company

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Nagarajan, R. (2009). Agriculture. In: Drought Assessment. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2500-5_4

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