Assessment and Management of Meteorological drought for crop planting in Tarai region of Uttarakhand

The distribution of rainfall in the Tarai region of Uttarakhand is very erratic in space and time and occurrence of occasional droughts is not uncommon. In this study 44 years (1961 to 2004) of rainfall data of Pantnagar have been analyzed on annual, seasonal, monthly and weekly basis for predicting the expected rainfall at different probability levels to determine periods of water deficit and surplus for crop planning in the region. The analysis has revealed that the assessment of drought on weekly basis is very important for better crop planning particularly in rainfed areas. It has also been revealed that there is a need to adopt measures for assured irrigation to mitigate the effect of drought during the pre-monsoon (summer) and post-monsoon (winter) crops, and a provision of supplemental irrigation or in-situ moisture conservation measures to meet dry-spells during monsoon season. It also provides important information about implements of drainage measures at suitable time and place during the periods of surplus surface runoff.