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Crisis (IPC Phase 3) food insecurity is likely in rainfed agricultural zones

  • Key Message Update
  • Mauritania
  • May 2018
Crisis (IPC Phase 3) food insecurity is likely in rainfed agricultural zones

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  • Key Messages
  • Key Messages
    • Daily markets in the south of the rainfed agricultural zone are being supplied with traditional cereals from Mali. However, poor households in rural areas are eating only imported foods since their seasonal incomes are at their lowest level since 2016. At the national level, food markets and EMEL government boutiques are well supplied with imported foods, but their prices are increasing due to the increased demand during Ramadan and the poor availability of traditional cereals.

    • Despite the decrease in livestock supply in markets due to greater transhumance, prices of goats and cattle continue to decline except in the east of the agropastoral zone (moughataas of Kiffa, Aioun El Atrouss, Timbedra Nema) where pastoral trade is becoming the base of household incomes.

    • According to NASA, NOAA and USGS, forecasts from June to August indicate a normal start to the rainy season, but possible rainfall deficits in the south of the country and in the border regions near Mali and Senegal. The National Meteorological office is still forecasting a normal situation throughout the country. However, the unusually low temperatures currently occurring along the Mauritanian coast tend to support the first hypothesis.

    • In some parts of the agropastoral zone, the center of the Senegal River Valley, and the north and center of the rainfed agriculture zone, the poorest households are experiencing Crisis (IPC Phase 3).

    • In the rest of the country, Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes that are normally seen in the lean season (May to August) began early this year in February/March, with increased intensity compared to an average year, particularly in the areas where agriculture and pastoralism are the primary livelihoods of the poorest households.

    This Key Message Update provides a high-level analysis of current acute food insecurity conditions and any changes to FEWS NET's latest projection of acute food insecurity outcomes in the specified geography. Learn more here.

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