Monitoring and Managing Agricultural Drought in India - Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study - page 309

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Line
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1.0
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Norm
PgEn

Figure 23.6 Renovation of a village pond ( Nadi ) in Barmer district during 1999-2000
dr ought. As men migrate to far away places for employment, mostly the village women were
see n working under Food for Work program.

need to be modernized to improve their efficiency and tackle drought situ-
at ions more effectively.

[309

W eather Network, Farmers' Participation, and Fodder Bank

There is a need to strengthen the communication network among the vast
number of weather stations in India and establish a weather-data bank.
Weather stations should be linked to drought advisory units to help mon-
ito r droughts on a real-time basis. Satellite remote sensing and geographic
in formation system-based approaches for agricultural drought monitoring
ne ed standardization for precise assessment of conditions of various crops
in various regions.
Early participation of local community in the implementation of a
dr ought management scheme will make the scientific community more fa-
m iliar with ground realties and make the measures more effective.
Construction of fodder-storing devices (or fodder banks) in drought-
pr one areas will help reduce the cost of fodder transport from surplus areas,
which may be hundreds of kilometers away.

C onclusions
The commencement and termination of droughts in India are directly as-
sociated with the behavior of the southwest monsoon. India experienced