FAMINE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS NETWORK MAURITANIA A USAID project managed by Chemonics International Inc. TEL: (222) 25 39 18 FAX: (222) 25 39 18 E-mail: [email protected] MONTHLY REPORT FOR APRIL 2002 RAPPORT MENSUEL DU MOIS D’AVRIL 2002 This report covers the period from March 28 to April 25, 2002 Summary FEWS NET/Mauritania conducted a fact-finding mission April 8-22 to gather information on food security conditions in crop and livestock-farming areas of the country. Available data on this year's grain harvests and on trends in conditions in livestock-raising areas point to a country- wide deterioration in food security. The local population and agricultural agencies in the regions visited by the mission agree that, on the whole, this year's grain harvests are down from last year, despite higher yields from certain types of crops and farming systems in specific grain-producing areas. Distribution of food aid is inadequate and, in general, the local population is finding it increasingly difficult to manage its food security with this year's lean period (soudure) beginning two months earlier than usual. There is a visible deterioration in the condition of natural vegetation and in grazing conditions around the country due to natural and man-made factors, depriving people of the basis of their strategy for coping with yearly grain deficits. Mass migration has intensified, particularly from Aftout and the southern portions of Hodh El Chargui and Hodh El Gharbi. The early migration of animal herds to Guidimakha and into Mali first noticed in March intensified during April, while vast tracts of grazing lands in Trarza and Brakna are unusually empty for this time of year. Prices for local and imported grains continue to soar. Contrary to statements in previous FEWS NET reports, grain transfers between Mali and Mauritania have not fallen off. They have clearly stepped up, but their sources and destinations have changed. 1. Overview of Current Food Security Conditions and Prospects There has been a visible deterioration in food security conditions around the country attributable to four main factors: 1. The steady decline in grain production. Grain harvests for all types of crops and farming systems have fallen short of the average production figure for 1984-1995 since 1998. Farming families have exhausted their household stocks and have borrowed so much from local merchants that the latter are reluctant to grant them any more loans. This makes it extremely hard for farm households to round up enough provisions, for even one meal a day. 2. The deterioration in the condition of natural vegetation and in grazing conditions, the basis of farmer strategies for coping with yearly grain deficits. Sporadic rainfall has reduced yields from different trees, shrubs and grass species traditionally used as food supplements, while the January storms destroyed grazing lands in Brakna, Trarza and Gorgol, resulting in the early migration of herders and their animals. 3. Shifts in trade patterns. Seasonal food production from all types of crops and farming systems is inadequate to sustain trade between different crop-producing areas and the destinations of grain transfers from border areas have changed. Grain imports from Mali are bypassing consumers in border areas. Grain is being bought up by large-scale traders in farming areas of Mali and shipped directly to large urban population centers, where they are bringing in better prices. 4. Spiraling food prices. Prices for staple food products are up everywhere, in farming areas and consumer centers around the country. The prices of certain products such as locally- grown grain and imported rice are at all-time highs. The causes of this situation are twofold: Four years of cumulative rainfall deficits and production shortfalls. Farmers in Bababé Department in Brakna and Kaëdi Department in Gorgol only grow dieri, or exclusively rain fed upland crops, in a country where grain production for all types of crops and farming systems has been in decline since 1998. This year's modest boost in dieri crop production compared with last year cannot possibly have any tangible effect on shortfalls in harvests of walo or flood recession crops or of crops grown in village irrigation systems. The gathering of wild plant foods (wild fonio, the fruit of the Boscia senegalensis tree, jujube, the fruit of the balanite tree, etc.) was short-lived, with availability of these products sharply reduced by erratic patterns of rainfall. The January 2002 storms. Unseasonable rains pelted the Trarza, Brakna and Gorgol regions of the country during January 9-11, killing large numbers of cattle and small stock animals and degrading what had been good grazing conditions. These conditions forced countless herders, including owners of small animals, to take to their migratory routes earlier than usual, depriving their stay-behind families of the food supplements furnished by animal products. The rains also damaged maturing rice and vegetable crops, making it that much harder for farmers to cope with shortfalls in grain production. The combination of these two factors has depleted on-farm grain inventories. Losses of small stock animals, the so-called « family bank » for farm families, have weakened the purchasing power of the farm population. There is very little sorghum to be found on markets in rural areas, which still have ample supplies of imported grains. Distribution of grain by the Food Security Commission (CSA) and the World Food Program (WFP) in January and February improved food access to some extent, but are insufficient to make up for cumulative production shortfalls and losses from the January storms. This year's lean period (soudure) began in February (it does not generally begin until June in a “normal” year) and, two months later, households around the country already find it extremely hard to cope. FEWS NET attempted to make a regional study of food security conditions by dividing the country into different production areas. 2 1.A. Farming areas 1.A.1. Areas with a Single Farming System In Guidimakha, poor dieri or rain fed upland crop production in Selibaby Department and the shift in the direction of trade to Gorgol and Nouakchott are stripping farmers in poor adwaba settlements in Ould Yengé Department of a basic cornerstone of their strategy for coping with structural production deficits. These communities are still classified as extremely food-insecure. Crop production deficit areas in the southern reaches of Selibaby Department are expected to remain moderately food insecure, thanks to cash remittances and traditional social coping mechanisms. In Trarza, where production is off by nearly 90% from pre-harvest forecasts for walo crops, farmers unable to plant hot off-season crops (February to June) due to a lack of credit rely on Senegalese rice smuggled across the border, with a 50 kg sack selling for 4,400 UM as of April 22, up from 3,700 UM in January. All farming communities in this region of the country unable to plant hot off-season crops are classified as extremely food-insecure. 1.A.2. Areas with Mixed Farming Systems In the Senegal River Valley, harvests of walo (flood irrigated) crops (the main source of grain production) are down by over 70% in Brakna and Gorgol and by nearly 90 percent in Trarza. Compounding the problem of water stress, caused by an unusually short flooding period, stunting the growth of area crops, stalk borers continue to wreck havoc, and farmers are increasingly reluctant to plant crops, discouraged by repeated failures. Their only success has been with cowpea crops, but with flooded areas so few and far between, the benefits from these harvests are spread thin. In Aftout, harvests in lowland (bas fond) areas (the main source of grain) were mediocre at best. With the sole exception of the Legoueïssi area (in the southeastern corner of Mâle Department) where maize crops were resuscitated by the January rains, crops in all major dam areas were stunted and yields were extremely poor. Once they realized, in February, that their sorghum crops would not reach full maturity, most farmers quickly cut them down to leave room for only cowpea crops, whose harvests ranged from fair to average. Thus, this is yet another in the string of poor harvests experienced by farmers in Aftout since 1996 in the face of sporadic rainfall and infestations of stalk borers. However, local farmers are saying that, this year, there was little pressure from stalk borers and that the main causes of this year's unusually poor harvests were inadequate rainfall and, more importantly, damage from straying camels forced into premature migration. The impact of these poor harvests has been heightened by weaker than usual spillover effects from livestock-raising activities. Yearly migration by herders and their animals generally provides the local farm population with a source of seasonal employment from passing herds (drawing water for animals, guarding herds), paid either in species or in kind. This year, migrating herds moved through the area more rapidly than usual (spending 1 or 2 weeks at most), with severe water shortages and shortages of good pasture forcing them onwards. Aftout has a serious water problem, with its surface water sources drying up and its underground water resources increasingly harder to access (area wells are already 60 to 80 meters deep). Farmers and animals in many villages have been using the water impounded in area dams as their only source of drinking water. The small remaining volumes of water in certain dams (due to drought or to damage to the dam structure) are creating large concentrations of animals around those dams still full of water, speeding up their drainage. 3 The situation of adwaba settlements or communities of farmers living in abject poverty in Hodh El Gharbi and Hodh El Chargui is identical to that of farmers in the Aftout area.