Agricultural drought is a natural hazard, often leading to significant crop yield losses and jeopardising food security. Climate change is anticipated to increase the duration and the magnitude of drought events, augmenting also their adverse effects. Recent studies, as well as policy initiatives, emphasise the need of proper farm-level management, for efficient mitigation of drought effects and adaptation to climate change. Towards this objective, robust, practical and comprehensible tools should be employed to support decision making process. In this paper, the Crop Reconnaissance Drought Index (CRDI) is introduced, aiming at assisting in agricultural drought analyses, focusing on specific crops. The proposed CRDI is an adjustment of the widely used Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI), in which the utilised parameter of reference evapotranspiration is replaced by crop evapotranspiration. Along with this amendment, other issues regarding the calculation of CRDI are discussed, such as the selection of appropriate reference periods and methods of crop evapotranspiration assessment. The significance and the advantages of CRDI are illustrated through an application, considering different crops under Mediterranean conditions, in three regions of Greece.

农业干旱是一种自然灾害，通常会导致农作物减产，并危及粮食安全。预计气候变化将增加干旱事件的持续时间和程度，并加剧其不利影响。最近的研究以及政策举措都强调需要适当的农场一级管理，以有效减轻干旱影响和适应气候变化。为了实现这一目标，应采用健壮，实用和可理解的工具来支持决策过程。本文介绍了作物勘测干旱指数（CRDI），旨在协助农业干旱分析，重点是特定作物。建议的CRDI是对广泛使用的侦查干旱指数（RDI）的调整，其中参考蒸散量的利用参数被作物蒸散量代替。与该修订案一起，还讨论了有关计算CRDI的其他问题，例如选择合适的参考时期和作物蒸散评估方法。通过在希腊三个地区考虑地中海条件下不同作物的应用，说明了CRDI的重要性和优势。