Spatial Vulnerability Assessment using Satellite based NDVI for Rainfed Agriculture in India

Abstract

Increasing variations in weather in the Indian sub-continent has lead to a growing perception of climate change and concerns especially in the field of agriculture, water and weather are growing. Indian agriculture is a major contributor to Gross National Product as it is the main source of food, feed, fiber and livelihood to a large section of human and whole of livestock population and provides feedstock to several industries. In order to understand the trend in agricultural land use as a result of insidious and imperceptible change in climate, a study has been undertaken using freely-available data sets of time-series satellite based vegetation index that provide a comprehensive view of state of agriculture in the country and indicate the spatial impact of such change. Satellite data can provide an unambiguous composite overview of trends in land use and land cover in various regions depending on the scale of study required for a particular purpose based on current satellite sensor capabilities present in the world ranging from national and sub-national levels to micro-watershed and field-level.