Geospatial information for sustainable food systems

Assessing exposure of rainfed agriculture to drought in Afghanistan (2022)

Year published: 29/01/2024

Assessing the exposure of rainfed agriculture to drought is crucial for understanding its impact on food security. Remote sensing data, particularly the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI) from MODIS product1 , helps evaluate drought extent (values below 40 percent). The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) land cover dataset (2018)2 was used to extract rainfed agriculture, which was overlaid on the drought data to assess the level of exposure in each province. The results were visualized using a hexagonal map (90 km2 per hexagon) with a color-coded legend, indicating various levels of exposure (low to high). These findings are important for the Afghanistan Emergency Food Security Project (OSRO/AFG/213/WBK), providing essential information to address food security challenges and implement appropriate interventions.