Analysis of crop water requirement in Indonesia’s rice fields during the 2015 El Nino using MODIS data products

Climate change has impacted food security in the agricultural sector, resulting in droughts on agricultural land. One of the climate change phenomena is El Nino that occurred in 2015-2016, where this phenomenon has increased global warming by 49% and decreased rice productivity by 2.9%. This study aims to compare crop water requirements in Indonesia’s rice fields under normal conditions in 2013 and El Nino conditions in 2015. This study uses NDVI (MOD13A1.006) and Potential Evapotranspiration (MOD16A2.006) data products to estimate crop water requirements in rice fields. Crop water requirements are calculated by applying the kamble equation to determine the value of the monthly crop coefficient multiplied by the monthly potential evapotranspiration value. The results showed that in 2013 low conditions of 4773975 ha dominate the crop water requirement. While in 2015, the area of crop water requirement is dominated by medium conditions and high conditions of 355890 ha and 143975 ha. Thus, it can be concluded that the El Nino phenomenon resulted in an increase in the area of crop water requirement in Indonesian rice fields. The results of this study are expected to support reducing and mitigating the impact of the water crisis in Indonesia during the El Nino condition.