Development and evaluation of Soil Moisture Deficit Index (SMDI) and Evapotranspiration Deficit Index (ETDI) for agricultural drought monitoring

Drought is one of the major natural hazards that bring about billions of dollars in loss to the farming community around the world each year. Drought is most often caused by a departure of precipitation from the normal amount, and agriculture is often the first sector to be affected by the onset of drought due to its dependence on water resources and soil moisture reserves during various stages of crop growth. Currently used drought indices like...