ANNOUNCEMENTS
Probable drought details are the most significant for effective drought mitigation. Drought in agriculture mainly indicates the in adequate soil moisture which is not suitable for crop growth. Rabi seasonal crop area of Assam is mainly considered for this study. Google earth engine platform used for calculating the indices for drought monitoring. 20 years of dataset from 2000 to 2020 like MODIS derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Normalized Difference Wetness Index (NDWI), Land Surface Wetness Index (LSWI), Shortwave Angle Slope Index (SASI) and Soil Moisture data and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) were used for the analysis, also the Rainfall deviation dataset from IMD and Crop production dataset also used in the study. By integrating the 20 years dataset the agricultural drought affected areas were mapped and it was found that 3000 ha area comes under severe category, 8431.25 ha as a Moderate, 157868.8 ha as a Mild drought category accordingly. The observation is mainly showing that Lower and North Assam districts have severe drought in the Rabi seasonal crop growing period. The identification of drought vulnerability is an essential step in addressing the mitigation-oriented drought management.
Keywords: Agricultural Drought, Assam, NDVI, SPI, SASI.
