A DROUGHT-induced famine is currently ravaging Burkina Faso’s northeastern Dori region, threatening livestock and causing an exodus, especially of labourers, the Danish NGO Danida said Tuesday. “The cereal shortage is causing prices to rise on the local markets,” said Issoufou Ganou, Danida official in charge of Dori. Prices of millet, for instance, has tripled, Ganou said. “The most pressing problem is lack of water,” he said, adding that a large reservoir at Dori, the biggest in the region, had dried up. At the same time, livestock in the Dori region, the landlocked west African country’s main pastoral centre, was been threatened by lack of pastures and water. Drought-related crop failures have seen estimates of agricultural production for the 2000/2001 season being downgraded to 1.862m tonnes from 2.700 tonnes the previous season. – AFP