India has experienced 21 large-scale droughts in the last 100 years; three of which were classified as severe. In 2016, a severe drought left at least 330 million people without enough water for daily needs.
India has experienced 21 large-scale droughts in the last 100 years; three of which were classified as severe. In 2016, a severe drought left at least 330 million people without enough water for daily needs.
A composite drought index (CDI) is a drought monitoring tool that uses newly-developed remote sensing products to assess drought impacts on various components of the hydrologic cycle. A CDI provides weekly maps showing drought status and can enable a government to respond with short-term aid and reparations, as well as long-term infrastructure and policy.
DWFI has partnered with the NDMC and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), in a project funded by the United States–India Education Foundation (USIEF), to develop a CDI for Indian states.
The three-year grant-funded project, which began in 2017, includes three objectives:
- Develop a CDI for India
- Advance irrigation technology in India
- Monitor water productivity in India
The work has included two technical workshops held in India. The first workshop was held in July 2018 with high-level government officials and scientists and focused on the application of spatial data infrastructure for irrigation management. The CDI was also unveiled for two Indian states. The progress was well received and resulted in USIEF extending it for an additional year at a no-cost extension.
The capacity building workshop held in January 2019 highlighted the progress and results made so far to develop India’s CDI, collected feedback from stakeholders for modification and identified next steps for the project, which included developing CDI for additional Indian states and continuing research on handheld thermal sensor for smallholder farmers in India. By integrating soil moisture sensing and canopy temperature sensing techniques using low cost sensors, farmers can better determine optimal irrigation for different crops.