Farming Hazards In The Drought Area

The impact of drought in agriculture is one of the most complex natural hazards to predict and mitigate. It carries a constant risk for most smallholder farmers around the world. According to studies conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 83 percent of all damages and losses caused globally by drought between 2006 and 2016 have been absorbed by agriculture, putting a good part of the world population at risk of food insecurity. The guide aims to guide governments and other relevant actors in the development of early warning - early actions on agricultural drought plans that must be implemented before a drought event has significant impacts and causes damages and losses that could eventually become a disaster. The manual complements other instruments used at global and local levels to develop EWEA on agricultural and response plans related to drought.

This report is a component of the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS)–-funded project “Impacts of Climate Extremes on Future Water and Food Security in South Asia and East Africa.” The goal of the project was to characterize extreme drought events, to improve on a methodology to assess the probability of these events in the future under climate change, to illustrate their impacts, and to provide suggestions on coping strategies. The present report sets the stage for the overall project by undertaking a review of the causes of vulnerability to drought in East Africa and the western Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of South Asia, and discussing the options to increase resilience to drought in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is a high-risk endeavor in both regions, due to a combination of recurrent droughts—which may intensify due to climate change—poor soil fertility, and a host of constraints faced by farmers, especially low access to input and output markets. These factors, combined with farmers’ high aversion to risk, stifle investments in agriculture, resulting in continuous underachieving production, low income, and persisting poverty.

Need for risk considerations in farming systems analysis in dryland areas; Analysing risk in farming systems in dryland areas; Allowance for risk in project, programme and policy work pertaining to faming systems.

At last, integrated management of drought on farms is dealt with in one comprehensive book. Although drought is a highly variable, near-universal natural phenomenon which has repercussions on a country's water and food supplies and many other sectors of the economy, there are many ways of avoiding, resisting and mitigating the effects of drought. Pro-active preparedness entails using the principles of risk management to upgrade the drought resistance of a farm systematically, and to have auxiliary contingency plans at the ready for use during unusually long droughts. The book provides tools for these strategies as it covers the management of water, soils, crops, rangeland, fodder and livestock, and many other drought-related topics. Audience: This book will be an important source of information for university and college staff and students in agricultural sciences, water and land use, environmental management, geography and risk management, and also farmers, agricultural advisors and policy makers.