Evaluating Meteorological and Technological Droughts and Their Relative Impacts on Agriculture in North Bengal, Bangladesh

This thesis evaluates the meteorological drought occurrence and severity as one of the factors limiting agricultural productivity and argues that the current definitions of droughts are incomplete. It introduces the concept of 'technological drought' to account for crop failures, reduced yields or water scarcity, which are the consequence of an inability to supplement water when there is a lack of irrigation technology and/or existing poor water management. This thesis may be considered as the basis to explore further the nature of technological drought and the importance of its mitigation for many developing countries, especially in Africa and South Asia.