Food productivity trend analysis of Raichur district for the management of agricultural drought.

ABSTRACT

Drought is an extreme climatic situation where there is a water shortage arising due to sub-normal rainfall, erratic distribution of precipitation, increased water supply demand, etc. India faced several years of drought in last six decades. As Indian agriculture is largely dependent on the monsoon, a slight change affects production as well as crop yield drastically. Statistical analysis is important for mapping the drought prone areas. Raichur district of the northern interior state of Karnataka is a drought-prone region where the economy is mainly based on agriculture. So, the uneven distribution of rainfall as well as the delay in the arrival of the southwest monsoon adversely affects the growth stage of crops which result in a decline in crop production. The effect of drought on the agriculture for the past decade has been analyzed using crop productivity data. When the production rate of Raichur district was studied for the years 1998 to 2009, it was seen that major crops like rice and jowar faced a decline in its production during the years 2002 and 2003, whereas bajra, maize, etc. mostly decreased in the year 2004.