Identification of Agricultural Drought Vulnerable Areas of Tamil Nadu, India Using Gis-Based Multi Criteria Analysis

Though drought is normal part of the climate, vulnerability to drought depends on various climatic and physical factors. Information on the vulnerability to drought, helps in mitigation and drought proofing the region. This study aims at identifying the drought vulnerable regions of Tamil Nadu; India over agricultural area through Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) under GIS environment. Major climatic, edaphic, biotic and social factors are considered. Each factor is classified into five classes and appropriate weights are assigned. The MCA under GIS environment was carried out and the results showed that the drought vulnerable region discerned by MCA mostly matched with the blocks identified by the Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) of Federal Government of India. Some blocks identified as drought vulnerable in this study and under DPAP had majority of area under forest. Some blocks of the state were found drought vulnerable in this study, which was not identified by DPAP.