Meteorological drought indicators are commonly used for agricultural drought contingency planning in Ethiopia. Agricultural droughts arise due to soil moisture deficits. While these deficits may be caused by meteorological droughts, the timing and duration of agricultural droughts need not coincide with the onset of meteorological droughts due to soil moisture buffering. Similarly, agricultural droughts can persist, even after the cessation of meteorological droughts, due to delayed hydrologic processes. Understanding the relationship between meteorological and agricultural droughts is therefore crucial. An evaluation framework was developed to compare meteorologicaland agriculture-related drought indicators using a suite of exploratory and confirmatory tools. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) was used to understand the covariation of meteorological and agricultural droughts. Comparisons were carried out between SPI-2, SPEI-2, and Palmer Z-index to assess intraseasonal droughts, and between SPI-6, SPEI-6, and PDSI for full-season evaluations. SPI was seen to correlate well with selected agriculture-related drought indicators, but did not explain all the variability noted in them. The correlation between meteorological and agricultural droughts exhibited spatial variability which varied across indicators. SPI is better suited to predict non-agricultural drought states than agricultural drought states. Differences between agricultural and meteorological droughts must be accounted for in order to devise better drought-preparedness planning.

19Meteorological drought indicators are commonly used for agricultural drought contingency planning in 20Ethiopia. Agricultural droughts arise due to soil moisture deficits. While these deficits may be caused by 21 meteorological droughts, the timing and duration of agricultural droughts need not coincide with the 22 onset of meteorological droughts due to soil moisture buffering. Similarly, agricultural droughts can 23 persist even after the cessation of meteorological droughts due to delayed hydrologic processes. 24Understanding the relationship between meteorological and agricultural droughts is therefore crucial. An 25 evaluation framework was developed to compare meteorological and agricultural droughts using a suite 26 of exploratory and confirmatory tools. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) was used to understand 27 the covariation of meteorological and agricultural droughts. Comparisons were carried out between SPI-28 2, SPEI-2 and Palmer Z-index to assess intra-seasonal droughts and between SPI-6, SPEI-6 and PDSI for full-29 season evaluations. SPI was seen to correlate well with selected agricultural drought indicators but did 30 not explain all the variability noted in agricultural droughts. The relationships between meteorological 31 and agricultural droughts exhibited spatial variability which varied across indicators. SPI is better suited 32to predict non-agricultural drought states more so than agricultural drought states. Differences between 33 agricultural and meteorological droughts must be accounted for better drought-preparedness planning. 34 blue water) causing hydrologic droughts. The relationships between meteorological, agricultural and 1 hydrological droughts are not always straightforward. The onset and cessation of agricultural and 2 hydrological droughts do not typically coincide with meteorological droughts as the former are affected 3 by other factors (e.g., soil and watershed characteristics) that control the rate of water movement and 4 storage in soil, surface water, and groundwater compartments [6]. 5Understanding the relationship between meteorological and agricultural droughts is important for proper 6 drought contingency planning in rural areas of Ethiopia. As most of the agriculture is rainfed, a strong 7 correlation between meteorological and agricultural drought is to be expected. However, meteorological 8 and agricultural droughts need not be coincident nor the relationships between these two types of 9 drought be perfect or even strong. The soil moisture at any time can be affected by precipitation in 10 previous months or seasons and is also affected by other factors including but not limited to soil type and 11 atmospheric temperature. In Ethiopia, while many farmers grow crops during the Meher growing season 12 that coincides with the longer Kerimt (June -October) rainy season, the shorter Belg (February -May) 13 rains often provides the soil moisture necessary for tillage and planting activities and also improve 14 pastures for livestock [7]. Therefore, lagged re...