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	In depth

According to the UN estimates, at least 11 million people in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are in crisis, making this the region’s worst drought in a decade. The impact of drought has been most severe in pastoral areas on the Ethiopia–Kenya–Somalia border, with reports of malnutrition
levels far beyond emergency thresholds.

The need to enhance information flow to farmers led to the inception of the Information and Communication Support for Agricultural Growth in Nigeria Project (ICS-Nigeria). The hope is that access to information will trigger an increase in farmers’ use of agricultural technologies, which in turn will increase their productive capacity.

Reliable information on water depletion for agricultural production is much needed when freshwater resources are getting scarcer. This is the case in the irrigated Indus basin.