Agriculture in Mauritania

Located in the Sahelian and Saharan zones, Mauritania has one of the least developed agricultural bases in West Africa. Arable land represents less than 0.5 percent of the country, leaving it particularly reliant on food imports.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO): "The rural sector is one of the most important in the Mauritanian economy. Indeed, over sixty two percent (62%) of the population depend on rural activities for their livelihoods. Rural activities are responsible for 17% of the GDP and are the second highest source of employment in the country (about 21% of the working population). Finally, the sector contributes significantly to meet the country's consumption needs of cereals (30%), red meat (100%) and milk (30%). The useful agricultural area (UAA) represents less than 0.5% of the country (estimated at 502,000 ha). Moreover, 44% of the UAA, or 220,000 ha, is cultivated with rainfed production systems (that are highly dependent on rainfall, the water flow and thus on the quality of water infrastructures".

A major reason for Mauritania's economic stagnation since the mid-1970s has been the decline of its rural sector. Government planners neglected both herding and farming until the 1980s, concentrating instead on development in modern sectors such as mining. In the 1960s, livestock and crop production together provided 35 to 45 percent of GDP (at constant 1982 prices). From 1970 to 1986, their contribution to GDP (at constant 1982 prices) averaged 28 percent, with herding accounting for about 20 percent of this figure and with crop production falling to as low as 3 to 5 percent in the worst drought years. This has led to a particular exposition to climate change and the rural sector has been severely affected by droughts, sporadic dry spells and flooding.

Most important to the rural economy has been the livestock subsector. Between 1975 and 1980, herding engaged up to 70 percent of the population, and sedentary farmers constituted about 20 percent of the population. The vast majority of the population lived in the southern one-third of the country, where rainfall levels were high enough to sustain cattle herding. Farming was restricted to the narrow band along the Senegal River where rainfall of up to 600 millimeters per year and annual river flooding sustained crop production as well as large cattle herds. In the dry northern two-thirds of the country, herding was limited to widely scattered pastoral groups that raised camels, sheep, and goats, and farming was restricted to date palms and minuscule plots around oases.