Monitoring Agricultural Drought in South Korea - Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study - page 395

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bility, expressed as SVI, is an estimate of the probability of occurrence of
the present vegetation condition (0 < SVI < 1).
SVI

= P ( Z < z ijk ) [30.3]

SVI values were grouped by Peters et al. (2002) into five classes: very poor
(0-0.05), poor (0.05-0.25), average (0.25-0.75), good (0.75-0.95), and
very good (0.95-1), and were related to drought conditions. The SVI is a
good indicator of vegetation responses to short-term weather conditions.
High spatial resolution (1 km) and potential for near-real-time evaluation
of actual vegetation conditions are the advantages of the SVI. But under-
standing the strengths and weakness of the SVI is important for determin-
ing when and how to use the index because climate conditions other than
drought can also cause reduced vigor of vegetation.
In practice, the response of vegetation to precipitation can be examined
using NDVI-precipitation relationships. Surface soil wetness derived from
satellite images can be related to soil moisture for monitoring local drought
conditions.

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PgEn

D rought Mitigation
In the long run, soil and water conservation practices can prepare for and
mitigate droughts. NIAST carried out research on multiple functions of
paddy farming according to agricultural production conditions to support
agricultural issues such as climate change, natural disasters, farm product
disaster insurance, and direct payments provided by the Ministry of Agri-
culture and Forestry of Korea.
The NIAST has quantified the positive impacts of paddy farming, in-
cluding flood prevention, enhancement of water resources, air and water
purification, and soil erosion alleviation (Seo et al., 2001). Negative im-
pacts include the emission of greenhouse gases, nitrogen leaching, and the
amount of agricultural water use (Seong et al., 2001). Crop simulation
models based on weather data can be used to predict irrigation schedules
to aid drought mitigation.
The main activity to mitigate drought in Korea is to compensate for
drought damages. First, the severity of drought is assessed by the CACM
(Committee of the Agricultural Counter Measure) on the basis of monetary
damages. The drought index and precipitation are not legal references.
When the funds required for restoring a drought-affected area exceed U.S.
$2.5 million for a county, the committee confirms the drought occurrence
and recommends that the compensation be provided by the government.
Half of the total funds are used to improve water resources by purchasing
pumps and other equipments and to pay for electricity and gas, and to dig
wells. In addition, the government is obliged to provide aid to those who
suffer, to reduce their families' school expenses, reduce the interest rate
of official loans, and to provide stored rice for food, under the Counter
Measure Law of Agricultural Disaster.

[395