Agricultural drought risk assessment in the upper Mun River Basin, Thailand | |
| Author | Lapanploy Chawrua |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.WM-21-08 |
| Subject(s) | Droughts--Thailand--Mun River Basin Crops--Effect of drought on--Thailand--Mun River Basin Drought management--Thailand--Mun River Basin |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Water Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | This study aims to assess the drought vulnerability to the agricultural sector, assess the drought risk, and investigate the currently adopted adaptation measures by the local people in selected high-risk areas in the Upper Mun River Basin, Thailand. The areas cover eight provinces; Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, Si Sa Ket, Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakram, Roi Et, and Ubon Ratchathani. The risk assessment framework is composed of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Where vulnerability consists of susceptibility and adaptation capacity, the 18 factors have collected available data from the various organizations in Thailand. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was to determine the weight of normalized vulnerability factors. Moreover, merging three maps using the Geographic Information System (GIS) technique can determine the developing drought risk map. Five levels of threshold factor index can be determined by classifying attribute data. High-risk areas are selected from 3 main components of the risk map by selecting high-risk areas that high hazard and low vulnerability for one and another high hazard and high vulnerability to study local people's existing adaptation strategies and management by questionnaire survey. The Weights of susceptibility component and adaptation capacity component are 0.406 and 0.594, respectively. The drought risk indices classified their weighted values as five classes; very low, low, medium, high, and very high. The center of each province is more exposed to drought because of high population density. Nevertheless, the hazard index shows that the southern part of Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket are very high hazards. Some Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, Surin, and Si sa ket areas are high and very high drought vulnerability. The drought risk index is very high and high at Nakhon Ratchasima, Buri Ram, and Si sa ket that is focused on as selective investigated field survey areas. The investigation areas are Dan Khun Thot District of Nakhon Ratchasima and Phlapphla Chai District of Buri Ram. For Dan Khun Thot, there are 73 households which 98% of them are farmers. The 60 household samples are aged people, 41.67%. Using digging a farm pond is the most appropriate measure and shifting the cropping calendar, using sprinkler and drip irrigation, and using seed from previous yields are the measure for them to cope with drought, respectively. For Phlapphla Chai, there are 74 households which 90% of them are farmers. The 62 household samples are aged people 46.77%, and using seed from previous yields is the most appropriate measure for them to respond to drought. The others referable measures are the ecosystem management practices, repairing and completing of distribution irrigation system |
| Year | 2021 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Water Engineering and Management (WM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Babel, Mukand S. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shrestha, Sangam;Shanmugam, Mohana Sundaram;Tawatchai Tingsanchali |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC), Thailand;Asian Institute of Technology Fellowship |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021 |