Impact of Climate Change on Agricultural Sector of a Drought Prone Area: A Case of Bargarh District, Odisha

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Abstract: Global climate change is a process that affects every one of us differently. Significant climate changes have been seen throughout the past century. The life of more than 700 million people in rural India depends on climate-sensitive businesses like agriculture, forestry, and fisheries as well as on natural resources like water, feed, and biodiversity. Today's climate variabilityrelated uncertainties pose serious threats to global economic growth. This paper aims to analyse how climate change causes drought in an area and how drought has its impact on agricultural sector and production. Drought is caused due to deficiency of rainfall and it is a complex natural hazard. Unlike other environmental disasters, it starts slowly, has its effect for a longer duration of time and covers a vast area. In India, it upsets the country’s food security by seriously affecting our agricultural economy, which is heavily dependent on monsoon. Drought causes economic, social and environmental loss quite frequently. Management of drought needs proper storage and usage of rain and ground water in drought prone areas. Drought assessment is very important to manage water resources in lean period. It plays a vital role in managing water demands especially in agriculture sector. In the present study, monthly temperature and rainfall data for 35 years (i.e., 1985 to 2020) were collected and analysed for drought assessment. The dry spell periods were calculated using agricultural drought indices i.e. spatial rainfall on monthly basis and Soil Moisture Index.