Minimal food insecurity in most rural areas

KEY MESSAGES

• Though poor households in most parts of the country have depleted their household cereal stocks, smooth trade flows (domestic, cross-border, and imports) should ensure good nationwide and region-wide food availability, at least through the end of June. Thus, there should not be any visible deterioration in household food security between April and June (Figures 1 and 2).

ACT Alliance Alert Reference Number: 15/2013. ACT member The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is planning to provide following assistance to Malian Refugees in the Mbera Camp and HCs: shelters, psychosocial support, nutritional support and agro-pastoral activities.

Mauritania
Assistance to Malian Refugees and Host Communities
Geneva, 7 May 2013

1. Brief description of the emergency and impact

It is hot and the midday sun scorches the sand. Mile after mile of travel and there is not a body of water to be seen. Animal carcasses rot on the side of the road. Yet amid this harsh desert climate, among a cluster of communities, tomatoes, onions and watermelon grow.

This is Mauritania, a west African country home to three million people, more than one third of whom are hungry. The Brakna region, in the south, has the highest malnutrition rates in the country, particularly among children under the age of five.

Nouakchott, Mauritania – Tadateru Konoé, the president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has undertaken his first mission to Mauritania where he witnessed first-hand the work the Mauritanian Red Crescent is doing to combat food insecurity in the region. The National Society has developed a range of solutions which are having a significant impact on vulnerable communities, including those living in remote areas of the country.

Local rice and sorghum are the most consumed food products by poor households in Mauritania followed by imported wheat which is a substitute that these households turn to the most. Local rice is grown in the river valley (in the southern regions of Trarza, Brakna, Gorgol and Guidimakha). Sorghum is produced in all areas of production (rainfed) and in flood-recession areas. However, a significant portion is imported from Mali and Senegal. Mauritania depends greatly on food imports (70% in a good agricultural year and 85% in a bad year) than on internal production.

Une aide urgente doit être fournie aux 70 000 Maliens

Au milieu du désert mauritanien, 70 000 réfugiés continuent de survivre dans des conditions précaires, sans perspective de retour au pays en raison des tensions ethniques affectant le nord du Mali. C’est ce que décrit un rapport intitulé « Échoués dans le désert » et publié aujourd’hui par Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), qui appelle les organisations humanitaires à se préparer à un effort continu à la hauteur des besoins.

CAMP DE MBERA, Mauritanie, 10 avril (HCR) – Ahmadou ressent parfois que le camp de réfugiés de Mbéra est devenu sa seconde maison, mais cela ne le réjouit pas. Il y avait passé cinq ans dans les années 1990 et désormais il y est de retour, récemment forcé à fuir sa maison à cause du conflit au Mali voisin. Il se demande combien de temps il va devoir rester à Mbéra, cette fois.

Highlights

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• A record crop was gathered in 2012 and rangelands have recovered well

• The food supply situation has improved significantly in 2012/13 compared to the previous year

• Humanitarian assistance continues to be needed due to the lingering effects of last year food crisis

• Civil strife in northern Mali is also having a serious impact on food security in parts