Agricultural Drought Risk Assessment in Lam Ta Kong Watershed

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the factors that affect agricultural drought in the Lam Ta Kong watershed in northeastern Thailand, in terms of the climate, soil and land utilization factors that cover ten secondary factors, using analysis hierarchy process with geographic information system and remote sensing techniques. The results indicated that the rainfall had a high effect on the agricultural drought risk in the study area, along with the absence of vegetation cover. Most areas showed a very high and high risk of agricultural drought, 1,582.93 and 498.2 km2, respectively, or 46.3percent and 14.6percent of the total area, respectively, with a decreasing area as the drought risk decreased from a moderate to a very low risk, 474.7 to 412.4 km2, or 13.9percent to 12.0percent of the total area.