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MAURITANIA Monthly Food Security Update June 2007 The deterioration in food security conditions in rural Figure 1. Livelihood zones map of Mauritania areas served by government and WFP assistance programs has slowed with the replenishment of Village‐Level Food Security Reserves (SAVS) and distributions of free food aid by the government. Conditions in areas also served by Community Feeding Centers (CACs) are near‐normal for this time of year. However, there are numerous highly and extremely food insecure communities facing grain access problems compounded by limited water availability and access. Urban markets are still being supplied with coarse grains imported from Mali, with Malian exports also steadily improving grain availability on border markets, where prices are beginning to come down. Against this backdrop, rising prices for small animals should strengthen terms of trade for agropastoral and pastoral households. Rainfall in the South and Southeast has still not triggered any large‐scale return migration, and the countryside is still empty. Moreover, the current Source: FEWS NET seed shortage attributable to low yields from the 2006/07 harvest and limited cross‐border trade could adversely affect the progress of the upcoming growing season. With the exception of large‐scale herders who, for the most part, have enough resources with which to ensure their own food security, all other socioeconomic groups around the country have realigned their food access mechanisms. Agricultural conditions The beginning of the rains has not yet given rise to the planting of crops. Most migrant workers from crop‐producing areas have still not returned home. The lack of farm workers is an even more serious problem than the shortage of seeds referred to above, since households could get by with purchasing grain on local markets to offset any seed shortages, while the lack of an agricultural labor force automatically means a reduction in the area under crops. Pastoral areas Seasonal migratory movements have slowed with the beginning of the rains, but it is still too early for the return of livestock. Wet season grazing areas have yet to develop adequate pastures to support livestock. Small‐scale herders in FEWS NET Mauritania FEWS NET Washington Nouakchott 1717 H St NW FEWS NET is a USAID-funded activity. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the view of the United States Agency Tel: (222) 525 39 18 Washington DC 20006 for International Development or the United States Government. [email protected] [email protected] www.fews.net/mauritania MAURITANIA Monthly Food Security Update June 2007 areas marked by a sharp deterioration in grazing conditions (zones 7 and 4 and the western part of zone 5, in Figure 1) are thinning their herds by increasing animals sales in order to buy enough animal feed to save the rest of their herds. Prices for animal feed (in many cases, imported from Mali Table 1. Pockets of highly and extremely food-insecure and Senegal) continue to soar due to heavy demand communities and limited supplies from mills in Mauritania. With the exception of reported cases of night • Hodh Ec Chargui (Bougadoum, Ferreni and Mabrouk blindness (associated with vitamin deficiencies) among districts) migrating cattle, animal health conditions in all livestock‐raising areas are still considered good. • Hodh El Gharbi (Leghlig and Voulanya districts) • Assaba (Gueller, Al Kabra and Daghveg districts) Food security summary • Gorgol (Melzem Teichett, Azgueilem, Bokhol, Moit, Ganki, Tikobra, Soufi, Tokhomadji, Toufounde Civé, With the expansion and restocking of SAVS and Neré Walo and Kaedi districts) ongoing distributions of free food aid, Mauritania is not facing an alarming food and nutrition crisis. • Brakna (Djionaba, Ouad Amour, Male, Djelewar, Fora, However, there are numerous pockets of highly and, Bababé, Aéré M’Bar, Debaye Hezaz, M’Bagne, Boghé in some cases, extremely food‐insecure communities and Dar el Avia districts) (Table 1). Differences in food insecurity levels from one district to another within the same livelihood zone • Trarza (Tekane, Lexeiba, Keur Macene and N’Diago are attributable to water access problems and the districts) spin‐off effects of out‐migration. • Food-insecure households living on 1 meal a day were Data from anthropometric measurements taken by observed in Dakhlet Nouadhibou, particularly in fringe the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the Ministry areas of the capital (generally inhabited by migrants from of Health in Brakna, Gorgol and Guidimakha districts in farming areas in the interior). February and June shows only a slight rise in global • Tagant: All of Moudjeria Department acute malnutrition rates (averaging out to 2 to 3 percent), which is normal for this time of year, in the • Adrar, Aoujeft Department (Medhah, Maeden and middle of the pre‐harvest lean period. The growth in Aoujeft districts). Regional offices of the Social acute malnutrition is due, in part, to the effect of Protection Commission are putting Ain Savra district in household coping strategies. The impact of ongoing Chinguitti Department and Ouadane district in this programs has helped slow the escalation in category. malnutrition rates, but would be unrealistic to expect to be able to contain the rise in levels of malnutrition for any length of time without addressing the Source: FEWS NET country’s continuing high rates of poverty and the underlying causes of acute malnutrition in the country. Households in at‐risk areas are continually realigning their traditional coping strategies, the most common of which, right now, involve borrowing and remittances from rural‐urban migration. With the upcoming rainy season, more and more households are cutting down on sales of small animals while waiting to see how the rainy season goes, before continuing to sell off their livestock. Market conditions Even with good market supplies, with the sole exception of Malian imports, prices for imported foodstuffs are rising. Increases in Malian imports are improving coarse grain supplies on markets in border areas, where prices for coarse grain crops are 15 percent lower than in June of last year and 25 percent below the five‐year average for the same time of year. Reassured by the existence of pockets of pastureland and the replenishment of village‐level food security reserves (SAVS), herders have cut down their sales of animals since the month of May. As a result, prices for small animals in the eastern Famine Early Warning Systems Network 2 MAURITANIA Monthly Food Security Update June 2007 and central portions of the country’s agropastoral (zone 5) and rainfed farming areas (zone 6) have risen (by anywhere from 14 percent on wholesale markets to 57 percent on urban markets), strengthening the purchasing power of agropastoral households, even with the steady rise in food prices. Right now, the sale of a sheep is bringing in enough to buy 115 Kg worth of sorghum on cross‐border markets in Hodh Ec Chargui, compared with only 73 Kg in May. In contrast, falling prices for livestock in transhumant pastoral areas (zone 4), the Senegal River Valley (zone 7) and the North (zone 2) in the wake of the sharp deterioration in the condition of pasture resources and the water access problems in these areas are weakening terms of trade for herders and agropastoralists. There is every indication that this terms of trade for herders will improve in markets in rural capitals, where the purchasing power of residents is the strongest. Herders generally prefer to sell their animals on markets in the seats of local governments, where there is an upper class of government officials and merchants. Moreover, because Mauritanian grain traders replenished their inventories with Malian imports in anticipation of possible local procurements by the Mauritanian government and the donor community, they are likely to begin selling their aging grain inventories at lower prices, further improving terms of trade for pastoralists. Famine Early Warning Systems Network 3 .

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