Summary
In common with a number of countries across the Sahel, Mauritania is facing a deteriorating food and nutrition crisis in 2015. At the end of May, ECHO reported that across the Sahel close to 7.5 million people require emergency food assistance1 – a figure of a similar order to the last major regional crisis in the Sahel in 2012, and demonstrating the urgent need for emergency response, particularly as the Sahel enters its annual lean season (typically June to September).
The immediate drivers of the current crisis in Mauritania lie in deficits during the 2014 rainy season, which was marked by a late start in all provinces of the country along with poor spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation: 2014’s rainfall was down on the five-year average, and one of the highest deficit years in the last decade. Tagant was one of the most affected areas, along with significant areas of the regions of Brakna and Hodh El Gharbi (targeted by this operation) Gorgol, northern Assaba and Guidimaka, and the east of Hodh El Chargui; provinces of the north as well as northern Trarza have also been affected.
The southern regions of Mauritania have not had sufficient rain for normal agricultural production, with an impact on the crops grown by poor and vulnerable households. Cereal production (millet, sorghum, maize) decreased 36.5% compared to 2013, and 61% compared to the five-year average. Livestock production, a main source of income for households in rural areas, has also been seriously affected, with insufficient pasture availability, falling prices for livestock due to destocking and losses/deaths of animals, and rising prices of animal feed which is increasingly required due to shrinking availability of pastures.
The reduction of crop production has been accompanied by a decline in demand for agricultural labor, representing a significant loss of income to poor households generally reliant on cash through these kinds of activities. In pastoral areas, transhumance has also reduced the demand for labor, as casual labor is often hired to graze the animals.
