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afrol News, 8 June - A news report on food security in Mauritania concludes that the distribution of food aid is inadequate. Further, in general, the local population was finding it increasingly difficult to manage its food security with this year's lean period (soudure) beginning two months earlier than usual. International aid also remains inadequate. According to the latest Mauritania report by the US agency Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS), 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. As a response to the food crisis, "mass migration has intensified," FEWS reports, particularly from Aftout and the southern portions of Hodh El Chargui and Hodh El Gharbi. Migrant bring their livestock to other areas, less affected by the natural disasters, again forcing local herders to head into Mali earlier than usual. Several southern regions are in the process of being totally emptied, the report notes. FEWS Mauritania had conducted a fact-finding mission 8-22 April 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 had pointed to a country-wide deterioration in food security. Throughout the country, there was "a visible deterioration in the condition of natural vegetation and in grazing conditions due to natural and man-made factors, depriving people of the basis of their strategy for coping with yearly grain deficits." The acute crisis is a result of four years of cumulative rainfall deficits and production shortfalls and heavy, disruptive rainstorms in January this year. The combination of these two factors has depleted on-farm grain inventories. Losses of small stock animals, the so-called "family ban" for farm families, have weakened the purchasing power of the farm population. As a result of the food shortages, prices for local and imported grains "continue to soar, FEWS had observed. The prices of certain products such as locally-grown grain and imported rice are at all-time highs. Grain transfers between Mali and Mauritania clearly had stepped up, but their sources and destinations have changed, bypassing consumers in affected border areas. The market situation in Nouakchott thus is far easier than in rural areas, although increased prices had negative consequences for the urban poors. The donor community has still not responded to appeals for assistance, "though the food situation in areas in poor condition continues to deteriorate and the degree of food insecurity is only getting worse." Also the UN agency WFP recently complained on the inadequate response to its call for donations. "Emergency aid is a must, to prevent a full-fledged disaster," FEWS concludes.
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