Over half of Mauritania’s population derives its live-lihood from fishing and raising crops and livestock, indicating the potential impact of the expansion of agri-business value chains on the economy. The agri-culture sector accounted for around 20% of GDP in 2020, but there is scope for this to increase if part-ners such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the EU can galvanise improvements in agricultural practices. The government has codified this aim as part of its strategy to reduce reliance on extractive industries, specifically through the 2012 Rural Sec-tor Development Strategy, the key operational refer-ence framework through to 2025; the 2016 National Agricultural Development Plan; and the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity 2016-30.
PRODUCTIVITY GAINS
Significant headway has already been made towards these goals, as evidenced by gross cereals production of 404,000 tonnes in 2020, including 291,287 tonnes of paddy rice. Some 48,000 tonnes of market garden products brought the out-put total that year to 452,000 tonnes – 32% above the average of the last five years. This was achieved by favourable weather conditions, and efforts by the government and international partners to supply farming inputs. Locally produced rice covered 82% of market needs in 2020 and imports stood at 31,571 tonnes that year, down from 168,000 tonnes in 2016.
Mauritania is self-sufficient in red meat and fish, yet it imports 60% of other staple foodstuffs, including vege-tables, sugar and cooking oil. This dependence, coupled with the country’s vulnerability to climate shocks, high-lights the need to strengthen agricultural resilience. The Covid-19 pandemic made this even more pressing, as more than 1m people were estimated to require food assistance between March and August 2020.
Prior to the pandemic, in November 2019 IFAD approved a $50m, six-year project to increase productivity, especially for family farms, women and smallholder producers in the southern wilayas (admin-istrative regions), where up to 40% of people live below the poverty line. The project expects to reach 183,000 beneficiaries in 30,000 households. It incorporates climate-adaptive measures that focus on land man-agement and the improvement of farming techniques in areas with moderate rainfall, as well as water-saving irrigation methods in oasis zones.
This work is complemented by a $45m project span-ning 2017-25 to build inclusive value chains. Some 285,600 farmers – with a focus on women and young people – across six regions of southern Mauritania will benefit from improved food security and nutrition, higher incomes, access to jobs and reduced reliance on food imports. The project has already been successful in pairing producers with tradespeople so farmers can more easily sell their output in regional markets.
CHALLENGES
However, securing adequate human resources for various initiatives has been difficult, delaying their progress. Moreover, it is necessary to incentivise the private sector to create small enter-prises capable of elevating the value of agricultural produce and livestock. Okra, watermelon and peppers are promising crops in this regard, but tomatoes, auber-gine and sweet potatoes present more of a challenge.
A lack of financing is a consistent impediment to agriculture sector expansion. The AfBD’s Agricultural Transformation Programme, covering 2021-26, seeks to build value chains and encourage entrepreneurship by women in Mauritania. It also aims to develop inclusive microfinance options in collaboration with local insti-tutions, including an agricultural guarantee insurance fund. Within this framework, the Gender-Sensitive Agri-cultural Value Chains Promotion project aims to support female cooperatives’ shift towards value-added activ-ities such as gardening, processing and handicrafts. These organisations typically focus on small-scale food crop production, which limits their access to credit.
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