ISSN: 2308-7056 Çelik & Aydin (2019) 75 I www.irbas.academyirmbr.com October 2019 International Review of Basic and Applied Sciences Vol. 7 Issue.10 R B A S Analyzing the Relations between Drought and Crop Yield in Southern Plains of Şanliurfa (Akçakale, Ceylanpinar, Suruç) MEHMET ALI ÇELİK Department of Geography, Kilis 7 Aralık University, Turkey. Email: mehmetalicelikk@gmail.com TANER AYDIN Department of Recreation, Iğdır University, Iğdır, Turkey. Email: taner.aydin@igdir.edu.tr Abstract Semi-arid climates are areas where rainfall variability is 25% and above. In these regions, high rainfall variability often leads to arid conditions. The main motivation of this study is to answer the question of how agricultural products react to the high variability in rainfall in the lower plains of Şanlıurfa, one of the most productive agricultural areas in Turkey. In this context, the main purpose of our study is to determine the response of crop pattern to arid conditions by specifying test areas in a semi-arid area. For this purpose, plant indexes were created using MODIS data. In this study, the drought-yield relationship of Suruç, Akçakale and Ceylanpınar Plains was examined by using the advantages of remote sensing. Keywords: MODIS, Southern Plains of Şanlıurfa, Agricultural Drought, Remote Sensing. Introduction Drought is the major factor that reduces crop yields in most of the world's agricultural fields. Agricultural production in semi-arid regions is usually done in dry agricultural areas and drought causes serious problems in agricultural yields in these areas (Öztürk, 1999:531). In this context, understanding the reactions of agricultural products in the face of drought is of great importance in solving the nutritional problems of the growing world population. For this, a detailed analysis of the ecological demands of agricultural products is required. Semi-arid regions are areas where rainfall variability is 25% and above. In these regions, high rainfall variability often leads to arid conditions. The main motivation of this study is to answer the question of what reactions the plant production gives to the high variability in rainfall in the Southern Plains of Şanlıurfa, which shows arid and semi-arid climate characteristics. The main aim of our study is to determine the response of plants such as wheat, barley, red lentils, cotton and corn to arid conditions by specifying the test areas belonging to Akçakale, Ceylanpınar and Suruç districts, which show a semi -arid feature in the fertile agricultural lands south of Şanlıurfa. For this purpose, the effect of stress conditions on crops caused by drought on agricultural production was studied. The basis of our study is formed by monitoring of agricultural areas with remote sensing methodology and the detection of arid periods with Meteorology-based drought Analyses. The plant production data of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI) is also one of the important data used in the study. Drought monitoring methods based on remote sensing provide quick and useful information for a sustainable management of drought impact on a region (Quiring and Papakryiakou, 2003). There are many studies on the detection and monitoring of drought in advance with remote sensing methodology (Wilhite, 2007). These studies show that agricultural drought usually occurs after a prolonged meteorological