Food Assistance Fact Sheet - Mauritania

December 3, 2012

Food Security Situation

Map of Mauritania
CIA World Factbook
  • Mauritania is a least-developed country, ranking 159 of 187 countries on the UN Development Program (UNDP) 2011 Human Development Index. 42 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

  • Mauritania produces only 30 percent of its national food consumption needs.  Subsistence agriculture and pastoralism are the primary livelihoods for populations living in the eastern and southern regions of the country. 

  • Food assistance programs have helped strengthen food access systems for poor households. Cash transfer programs in eastern and southern regions have revived local coping strategies, as well as strengthened food access through village-level grain reserves and government-subsidized shops.

  • The early 2012 coup d’état in Mali and rebel uprising in the north displaced hundreds of thousands of Malians.  Nearly 109,000 have sought refuge in southeastern Mauritania, further straining the food security situation.
     

Food Assistance Programs

  • The Office of Food for Peace (FFP) targets over 180,000 food-insecure Mauritanians and Malian refugees in the Gorgol, Guidimakha, Hodh el Gharby, Assaba, Hodh el Chargui and Nouakchott regions.

  • FFP partners with the UN World Food Program (WFP), Counterpart International, World Vision and Save the Children on a variety of activities including health and nutrition, community mobilization (infrastructure development and income-generating activities), and livelihood capacity development.

Food for Peace Contributions

Total Contributions:

  U.S. Dollars Metric Tons
Fiscal Year 2012 $20.6 million^ 6,340 MT
Fiscal Year 2011 $5.1 million 7,400 MT
Fiscal Year 2010 $5.0 million 7,820 MT
Fiscal Year 2009 $5.0 million 7,140 MT
Fiscal Year 2008 $16.5 million 19,320 MT

Fiscal Year 2012 Contribution Breakdown:

  U.S. Dollars Metric Tons
Title II Development $5.1 million 1,610 MT
Title II Emergency $6.6 million^ 4,730 MT
Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP) $8.9 million ----

Note: EFSP: Emergency Food Security Program; FY: Fiscal Year; MT: Metric Ton; USD: U.S. Dollar; WFP: World Food Program
Food Security Situation Information provided by FEWS NET and WFP as of August 2012
^FY 2012 Emergency Contributions include $6.6 milliion in a regional West Africa contribution

Last updated: December 03, 2012

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