MAURITANIA Food Security Update February 2009

• Most rural households across the country Figure 1. Food security assessment for February 2009 benefit from normal seasonal conditions and experience good to moderate food security.

• In general, residents of the western and central reaches of the River Valley (zone 7), the southeast of the country’s rainfed farming zone Sécurité alimentaire générale (zone 6), and the west of the agropastoral zone Insécurité alimentaire modérée Insécurité alimentaire haute (zone 5) reported poor flood-recession crop Insécurité alimentaire extrême growth and development and are moderately Famine food insecure. In these areas, this year’s hunger season could begin as early as March (Figures 1 and 2).

• The Food Security Commission (CSA) and the World Food Program (WFP) have released the results of the Household Food Security Survey (HFSS) and survey of at-risk areas (ARA). According to the study, the only areas of concern for malnutrition are the south and

central zones. There has been no significant Click on www.fews.net/FoodInsecurityScale for more information on the change in the nutritional situation from the FEWS NET food insecurity severity scale.

2006 Health Ministry/UNICEF survey, which was Source: FEWS NET conducted at the same time of year.

Seasonal calendar and critical events

Livestock migration south Hunger season Short hunger season Rainy season Rainfed and Rainfed and irrigated Flood recession Flood recession Long season irrigated harvest preparation harvest preparation harvest

November December January February March April May June July August September

Oct-08 Sep-09 Source: FEWS NET

Overview of the current food security situation

Rural households across the country experience good to moderate levels of food security, except in the western and central reaches of the Valley (zone 7), the southeastern reaches of the country’s rainfed farming zone (zone 6) and the western reaches of its agropastoral zone (zone 5). These areas reported low flood-recession crop growth and development. Despite the record harvests announced by the government in November of last year, the short hunger

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MAURITANIA Food Security Update February 2009 season just prior to the harvest of Figure 2: Livelihood zones map of Mauritania. flood-recession crops began normally in these areas, which ALGERIA already face moderate levels of food insecurity (Figures 1 and 2). Bir Mogrein

Rising prices for livestock are improving household food access in pastoral areas (zones 2 and 4). Since November, areas in which F Derik the SAVS program successfully Zouérat manages subsidized, fixed-price Zouerate cereal sales have high livestock prices. Thus, pastoralists and WESTERN agropastoralists are reaping the Nouadibhou benefits of better terms of trade Atar Atar and do not need to resort to the Akjoujt market. . In contrast, pastoralists Akjoujt in areas with poorly functioning SAVS programs due to a poor Tidjikdja harvest, for example, are pegging Nouakchott Nouakchott livestock prices to prices for Moudjeira Magta-Lahjar Boumedid commercially marketed Tamchekket foodstuffs and are forced to sell R Kiz Aleg Aioun al Atrous Boghe Ayoûn el 'Atroûs Keur Massene Aftout Kîfa Néma Bababe their animals at any price in order Rosso Nema Timbedra Bassikounou M Bagne to meet their food needs. Kaedi M Bout Djigueni SENEGAL Selibaby Markets are still well-supplied Sélibaby 0 100 200 with imported foodstuffs, but MALI Kilometers coarse grain supplies, which are Source: FEWS NET Mauritania steadily improving in Nouakchott, are still low on markets in the interior, where prices are generally moving upwards. Slow domestic trade is a driving force in this upward trend in prices.

Traders bringing in grain from neighboring Mali have Figure 3: Trends in the prevalence of acute malnutrition in abandoned local markets, diverting their shipments to city Mauritania (2000-2008). marketplaces in Nouakchott and other urban areas with Graphique 8: Evolution de la prévalence de la better purchasing power. This trend is slowing trade in the malnutrition aigue interior and heightening food insecurity problems in food- MS -UNICEF dec 08 (post- 0.5 deficit areas. Some interventions initiated under the MOH-UNICEF,recolte) 7.7 Special Intervention Program (SIP) and by the WFP in an Dec-08 MS UNICEF mars 2008 1.8 effort to improve the distribution of food supplies have MOH(début-UNICEF, soudure ) 12 Mar-08 Malnutrition Aigue been suspended for lack of funding. Examples include 1.7 Sévère MICSMICS 2007 2007 (hunger (soudure) 12.6 Malnutrition Aigue certain SAVS programs, distributions of free food aid, and season) Globale food-for-work programs. Slow cross-border trade and the MSMOH-UNICEF-UNICEF Dec 06 (post- 0.8 Dec-06recolte) 8.2 lack of intervention programs in zones 6, 5, 7, 4 and 2 EDS 2000 (hunger 3.3 EDS 2000 (soudure) (Figure 2) could cause food security levels over the next season) 11.3 few months. 0 5 10 15 % The food situation is still problematic in the urban periphery in Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Kaedi, and Kiffa and Note: Maroon = Severe acute malnutrition, blue = globall in camps for returnees from Senegal, where households acute malnutrition with low, erratic incomes are having a hard time Source: UNICEF

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 2

MAURITANIA Food Security Update February 2009 purchasing food supplies anywhere other than in pilot SIP Figure 4: Prevalence of global acute malnutrition and severe sales outlets, where prices are substantially lower than acute malnutrition in terms of weight/height in Z-scores in those charged by private shopkeepers. children between 6 and 59 months of age by reference zone. The Ministry of Health and UNICEF have released the results of a SMART survey of malnutrition. The survey data shows no significant change in the nationwide nutritional situation from the 2006 MS-UNICEF survey conducted at the same time of year (Figure 3). Only in the southern and central reaches of the country should the nutritional situation be a source of serious concern (Figure 4). A follow-up nutritional survey is scheduled for June of this year during the upcoming hunger season.

The CSA and WFP have released the results of the

Household Food Security Survey (HFSS) and survey of at- 95% confidence interval risk areas (ARA) conducted over the period from Zone Global Acute Low High Sample size December 8, 2008 through January 9, 2009. The findings Malnutrition by this study are summarized in the map presented in Figure 5 below. South East 8 5.2 10.8 876 Center 11.9 8.3 15.5 849 This map masks internal disparities between different South East 14.4 11.7 17 932 livelihood zones. For example, the map gives the Nouakchott 5.7 4.3 7.1 1526 impression that the 20-plus percent of the population of Trarza 3.8 2.1 5.6 784 North 4 2.3 5.6 655 the Hodh Ech Chargui region classified as food-insecure is Total 8.6 7.5 9.8 5622 evenly distributed across the entire “wilaya” (region). Zone Severe Acute Low High Sample size However, only farmers dependent on rainfed crops and Malnutrition poor agropastoralists in Bassikounou prefecture and the eastern reaches of Amourj prefecture are actually food- South East 0.8 0.2 1.4 876 insecure as a result of the large rainfall deficit reported in Center 0.9 0.3 1.6 849 these areas. Farmers, agropastoralists and transhumant South East 0.9 0.2 1.5 932 pastoralists in its other four prefectures face good to Nouakchott 0.3 0 0.5 1526 moderate food security. The same is true in the Gorgol Trarza 0.1 0 0.4 784 North 0.2 0 0.4 655 River Valley, where conditions in Maghama and Kaedi Total 0.6 0.4 0.8 5622 prefecture differ significantly. Maghama prefecture, to the Source: UNICEF southeast of Kaedi prefecture, reported better rainfall conditions and consistently produces good flood-recession Figure 5: Percentage of the population affected by global harvests thanks to an assistance program known as food insecurity, January 2009

Maghama décrue which plants over 10,000 hectares a year in flood-recession crops. Prefectures to the south of

Brakna, where residents countered a shortfall in flood- recession crops with successful irrigated crops, benefit Source: CSA-WFP from better food access than farmers in agropastoral areas of Aleg and Magta Lahjar prefectures in the north of this region, where the rainy season got off to a late start and ended unusually early.

Progress of the growing season

Harvests in lowland areas are still underway and crop performance is above-average. Certain farmers in Gorgol, Trarza and oasis areas (Adrar, Tagant) are also engaged in growing irrigated sorghum, corn and vegetable crops. In Source: CSA-WFP

Famine Early Warning Systems Network 3

MAURITANIA Food Security Update February 2009 contrast, harvests of walo (flood-recession) crops are generally mediocre, except in Maghama prefecture in Gorgol. Net off- season crop production for this year is estimated at 18,846 metric tons, up 21 percent from last year and 29 percent above the five-year average (2003/08).

The later than usual start of last year’s rainy season in the western reaches of the country’s agropastoral zone meant a poor harvest for predominantly agricultural agropastoralists. It also affected the condition of pasture, which is less plentiful in this area than in other agropastoral areas. Local residents are partially dependent on the market, selling small animals in order to purchase food supplies. Livestock prices in these western areas are falling, as are the cereal/livestock terms of trade.

Agropastoralists elsewhere in this zone, regardless of their wealth group, are enjoying good grazing conditions and terms of trade in these areas are working in their favor. This is definitely the case in livelihood zones 6, 5, 7 and 2 (Figure 2), where prices for small animals are rising despite good market supplies of livestock. This is a new phenomenon at this time of year, which could be attributable to a search for liquidity to purchase food supplies from village-level food security reserves (SAVS). However, these improvements are expected to be short-lived, as farmers will hand over a large part of their crops to settle debts incurred in previous poor crop years.

Despite numerous bush fires, pastoralists are still limiting their movements to traditional migration routes inside the country. The drop in the level of seasonal lakes and ponds and in the level of the river is forcing herders to water their animals at boreholes, which is restricting their mobility. This concentration of herders in a confined space contributes to overgrazing on existing pasturelands. Herders no longer able to travel will buy animal feed at prices ranging from 3,800 MRO for a fifty-kg sack of feed to 4,200 MRO, or 600 MRO more than in February of last year.

Terms of trade for small-scale herders in transhumant pastoral areas are also beginning to deteriorate with the downturn in prices for livestock. This is normal for this time of year, when pasture resources become increasingly scarce and herders prepare for seasonal migration.

The low level of the river over the past few months is affecting hot off-season crops, particularly in highland areas where tributaries are running very low. A poor off-season after a poor rainy season harvest would be especially hard on wealthier households dependent on agriculture for 70 percent of their food supply and 60 percent of their monetary income. A reduction in the cash assets of this group of households could have a spin-off effect on the need for farm labor for the upcoming growing season. The short hunger season is already underway for households in the Senegal River Valley (zone 7) not engaged in truck farming activities.

Markets and trade

All markets in Nouakchott are well-supplied, and prices are generally stable. Any reported declines in coarse grain prices are extremely short-lived. Mauritanian truckers are exporting products such as onions, potatoes, tea, sugar, oil, tomatoes and other manufactured goods to Mali, and are loading their trucks with grain or animals, for the return trip which is usually offloaded in Nouakchott.

The slow-down in domestic trade and imports of (Malian and Senegalese) coarse grain crops (millet, rainfed sorghum and corn) has driven prices up sharply on rural markets. In contrast, coarse grain prices and prices for imported foodstuffs in Nouakchott are unchanged or down from last month. However, prices are still running well above the five-year average (2003/08). Right now, markets in both urban and rural areas are still well-supplied with staple foodstuffs.

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ANNEX: Mauritania Monthly Price Bulletin February 2009

Wheat and local rice are the most important food commodities for the poorest households. Middle income and more wealthy households consume imported rice instead. All households use cooking oil. The Socogim market in Nouakchott is the most important market in the country and has linkages to Senegal and .

Monthly prices are supplied by FEWS NET enumerators, local government agencies, market information systems, UN agencies, NGOs, and other network and private sector partners.

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