The Impact of Drought: A Study Based on Anuradhapra District in Sri Lanka

Anuradhapura District being one of the paddy providers in Sri Lanka highly affected due to the drought disaster. The trend and cause for the drought should be identified for future remedial measures. Thus this study is conducted based on the following objective. The primary objective is that ‘identifying the impact of drought in Anuradhapura District' and the secondary objective are ‘finding the direct and indirect factors causing drought and the influence of drought in agriculture in the study area and proposing suggestions to lessen the impact of drought in the study area. To attain these objectives data from 1900 to 2014 were collected. All the data were analysed and the trend of drought, condition of drought and the impact of drought were identified. Many suggestions have been provided in the suggestion part.


INTRODUCTION
Drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather when there is not enough rain. The lack of precipitation can cause a variety of problems for local communities, including damage to crops and a shortage of drinking water. These effects can lead to devastating economic and social disasters, such as famine, forced migration away from drought-stricken areas, and conflict over remaining resources (National Geography, 2017). The drought disaster, frequently strike Sri Lanka is a serious problem to the nation. Most of the districts are being experienced by drought in Sri Lanka. Loss of agriculture and economy are evidences for the strike of drought in Sri Lanka. Many Districts in Sri Lanka are facing drought problems. Anuradhapura District, called as "the heart of Sri Lanka's rice bowl" one of the paddy providers to the nation is being severely affected due to the drought occurrence. Anuradhapura District receives rainfall from northeast monsoon. The annual rainfall ranges from 1250mm -2000mm from northeast monsoon. Increasing evaporation causes many dryland in Anuradhapura District. Small ponds, streams and other small-scale water bodies are highly affected where much amount of paddy cultivated using these water bodies. Due to the severe drought many places 14 Divisional secretaries are highly affected due to the drought disaster

III. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Both primary data secondary data were used for this study.

Primary data
Using simple random sampling technique, 40 percent of experience farmers were selected and questionnaires were distributed among them.
 Conversation  Meeting with farmers  02 officials from Department of irrigation in Anuradhapura  02 officials from Agrarian Service Centre  01 official from Meteorological Department

Secondary data
Reports from Divisional Secretariat, District Secretariats, meteorological department, disaster management centre, newspapers, books, published researches and internet sources were used as secondary data. The mid part of the year experience the drought highly. Thus, there is a need to be a preparedness in the middle of the month in Anuradhapura District.  Decreasing influx of water has been registered from May to August. At the same time, the evaporation rate is high during this period. And also, increasing influx of water registered from October to December but evaporation rate is low. These are the periods of water availability in Anuradhapura District.

Moving average curve
With the help of MINITAB software, moving average curve and residual mass curve have been created using collected data. To figure out the condition of drought, 11 and 21 years' moving averages have been calculated.
To explain the condition of the drought in Anuradhapura District, 150 years rainfall data from selected stations were used. The highest rainfall has been registered as 2428 mm in 1957 at the same time, 741 mm rainfall in 1956 as a lowest amount of rainfall has been registered.  11 wet seasons  09 dry seasons  35 dry seasons  06 wet seasons  12 dry seasons Comparatively, Anuradhapra District has experience more dry seasons than wet seasons.  Project for the rehabilitation of hand pump tube wells in Anuradhapura and Pollonnaruwa.  Taking actions to reduce the impact of drought in the study area  Adopting cascade system for the water management  Conserving the crop cover in the study area  Educatingstudents to conserve water for the future generation  Changing the crops viable to grow in less amount of water  Identify the yearly drought prone areas in the study area  Taking actions to construct small scale ponds to collect water.  Proving awareness among people in the study area VI. CONCLUSION According to the analysis, Anuradhapura District has been highly affected by the drought. The increasing temperature and decreasing rainfall caused the drought in Anuradhapura District. 114 years data clearly show the condition of the drought in Anuradhapura District. The agriculture of Anuradhapura District hasalso been affected due to the drought and the national paddy supply would be reducing if this condition continue.