Perspectives of Drought in Bundelkhand, Central India; Causes, Effects, and Mitigation: A Review

This chapter advocates the causes, effects, and mitigation of drought in the Bundelkhand region, central India. Bundelkhand receives less than 800 mm average rainfall belongs to dry land in India and shows a small cropped land area (30–40%). About 4 million hectares of land is good cultivable land. Among which 50% is the net sown area, while 7% is cultivable waste land. It has experienced a long history of droughts and famines and experienced a major drought in every 16 years during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The rainfall deficit in Bundelkhand region is reported 24% in 2004–05, 33% in the year 2005–06. It enhanced up to 45% in 2006 to 2007, 56% in 2007 to 2008, and declined about 20% in the year 2016–17. The excessive drawdown of water in reservoirs of Bundelkhand region has increased the worst hydrological droughts. The geospatial technology based on GIS and remote sensing tools was used to monitor the effects of drought in society. The population density, male–female ratio, age-sex composition; agricultural labors, cultivators, etc. are important social parameters to evaluate drought effects. The drought resilient and tolerant dual purpose crops are cultivated to mitigate the severely affected droughts. The mixed crop farming system, short duration crops, drought hardy millets, sesame, livestock rearing, storing of grains, and fodder during rainfall are commonly used to mitigate drought in the Bundelkhand region.