Coping With Drought Course on Module V Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics ICRISAT.

Coping With Drought Coping With DroughtCourse on

ModuleV

Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics

ICRISAT

Audience

This course is meant for farmers, students and those interested in agriculture to acquaint with drought and coping with this natural hazard.

Structure

This course is divided into lesson modules and specific lessons within each module.

To select a Module and Lesson within a Module, click on the Module and Lesson on the screen.

Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid TropicsCoping with Drought

Course on Coping with Drought

After completing 5 Modules in this Course you have learned to:

• Define drought• Explain the causes for drought• List the features of drought• Recognize the impact of drought on agriculture, livestock, economy of farmers and a country, environment, and society• Identify methods to monitor drought• Design plans to mitigate drought• Recall drought in Maharashtra State

Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid TropicsCoping with Drought


The 5 Modules in this Course are:

Module I: About Drought

Module II: Impact of Drought

Module III: Monitoring Drought

Module IV: Reducing Risk from Drought

Module V: Drought Scenario in Maharashtra

To select a Module and Lesson within a Module, click on the Module and Lesson on the screen.

Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid TropicsDrought in Maharashtra



Drought in Maharashtra

In the last Module in this course on “Coping with Drought”, the drought occurrence in Maharashtra is briefly described with a short introduction about drought in India.




After completing this Module you have learned to:

• Recognize the occurrence of drought in India and Maharashtra.• Locate drought prone areas in India and Maharashtra.• Describe the rainfall features in Maharashtra that leads to drought in Maharashtra.




Drought is not only a periodic phenomenon in India but also a permanent, harsh reality for many rural poor.

Almost 70 percent of the country is considered drought-prone due to weak or irregular monsoon seasons.




In India

• 33% area receives rainfall less than 750 mm – Chronically drought prone;

• 35% area receives rainfall between 750 – 1000 mm - Drought prone;

• 68 to 70% area of the country prone to drought in varying degrees.




India receives its annual rainfall in 4 spells

Pre-monsoon rains Mar-May 10.4%

South-west monsoon June-Sept 73.3%

North-east monsoon Oct-Dec 13.3%

Winter rains Jan-Feb 3.0%




India has faced three major droughts in the 20th century- 1904-1905,1965-66 and 1986-87. The 1987 drought was known as the drought of the Century and had a lasting impact on one-third of the country.

All four years i.e. 2000 to 2003 in the recent 21st century are drought years in India.

Reported drought events in IndiaPeriod Drought years Period Drought years1801-1825 1801,4,6,12,19,25

1901-1925 1901,4,5,7,11,18,20

1826-1850 1832, 33,37

1926-1950 1939,41

1851-1875 1853,60,62,66,68,73

1951-1975 1951,65,66,71,72,74

1876-1900 1877,83,91,97,99

1975-2000 1977,78,79,82,83,85,87,88,92




Thirteen states in India are declared as chronically drought prone areas.

States Districts

Andhra PradeshAnantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Mehaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Prakasam

Bihar Munger, Nawadah, Palamau, Rphtas, Bhojpur, Aurangabad, Gaya

GujaratAhmedabad, Amrely,Banaskanta, Bhavanagar, Bharuch, Jamnagar, Kheda, Kutch, Meshana, Panchmahal, Rajkot, Surendranagar

Haryana Bhiwani, Gurgao, Mahendragarh, RohtakJammu & Kashmir Doda, Udhampur

KarnatakaBangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bijapur, Chitradurga, Chickmangalur, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Hassan, Kolar, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Tumkur

Madhya PradeshBetul, Datia, Dewas, Dhar, Jhabuva, Khandak, Khargaon, Shahdol, Shahjapur, Sidhi, Ujjain

MaharashtraAhmednagar, Aurangabad, Beed, Nanded, Nashik, Osmanabad, Pune, Parbhani, Sangli, Satara, Sholapur

Orissa Phulbani, Kalakhandi, Bolangir, Kendrapada,

RajasthanAjmeer, Banaswada, Barmer, Chiru, Dungarpur, Jaisalmeer, Jalore, Jhunjhunu, Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali, Udaipur

TamilnaduCoimbator, Dharmapuri, Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari

Uttar Pradesh Allahabad, Banda, Hamirpur, Jalan, Mirzapur, Varanasi

West Bengal Bankura, Midnapur, Purulia




Maharashtra State, has a tropical climate.

About 70 per cent of Maharashtra land area is hot semi-arid to arid, supporting agriculture that is largely dependent upon monsoon rainfall.




The annual rainfall in Maharashtra state varies from 400 mm to 6000 mm.The average annual rainfall is around 1300 mm.




About 85% rainfall is received during southwest monsoon confined to only 3 to 4 months (June to September) of the year.

The number of rainy days generally vary from 40 in the scarcity zone to 100 in the heavy rainfall zone.




Average Anual Rainfall in mm

4000 – 8000 1000 - 1200

2000 – 4000 800 – 1000

1600 – 2000 600 – 800

1200 – 1600 0 – 600Annual RainfallIn Maharashtra




The Deccan plateau of Maharashtra constitutes 50% of the drought-prone area of the state.

12% of the population lives in drought-prone areas.

Once in 5 years, deficient rainfall is reported. Severe drought conditions occur once every 8-9 years.




In terms of severity, Western Maharashtra has been the worst affected region, with almost all the districts except Kolhapur reeling under the impact of drought.




In Marathwada, Osmanabad and Beed Districts are more seriously affected, whereas in Khandesh, Ahmednagar Districts are prone to frequent spells of drought.

There are, however, inter-district and intra-district variations in the severity and extent of the drought with some Taluka more affected than others.




For more information on drought in India and Maharashtra, please browse the following Web Sites:

http://www.csre.iitb.ac.in/rn/resume/drought/dim.html

http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/reliefRehab/situation.htm
















This concludes the Module V on “Drought Scenario in Maharashtra”.

If you would like to check your understanding about drought in Maharashtra, click “Exercise” button.

With this Module the course on Coping with Drought also concludes. If you would like to go through this course

again, click the Module button

Exercise




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Coping With Drought Course on Module V Virtual Academy for the Semi Arid Tropics ICRISAT.

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