Mauritania - Islamic Development Bank

20
75,000 t/year) of live animals to neighboring
countries. The local market lacks basic
infrastructure (transportation, slaughtering
houses, cold chains and sanitary controls).
Exports suffer from the same problems, which
explain the sale of live animals, depriving
the country of a substantial value-added.
Similarly, there is no infrastructure for the
modern treatment of animal skin. Inefficient
traditional techniques produce poor quality
hides sold at low prices to the export market
as a raw material. There is no leather industry
in Mauritania. In 2008, the volume of hides
exported was 383.1 tons for the modest value
of $ 177,000 representing an average price of
US$ 412/ton (source: ONS).
• Mauritania produces about 30% of its milk
consumption, two thirds of which are selfconsumed
and only one third is sold on the
local market. The absence of a well-developed
supply chain with sufficient capacity for milk
collection, cold storage and transportation
limits the access of local milk to the market
and renders the local milk unable to compete
with the imported –and often subsidized- milk.
In 2008, Mauritania imported about US$77
million of milk and dairy products (source:
ONS).
74. The weak management and human resource
endowment in public institutions has added
to these problems and led donors to support
creation of independent Project Implementation
Units (PIUs) that further weakened these
institutions.
3.3 Opportunities
75. Agriculture can help to reduce poverty and
enhance food security if the Government moves
to address the above constraints. In fact, despite
its very limited arable land area (0.5%), the
agricultural potential of Mauritania is sufficient
to provide the country with a reasonable level of
food security and help reduce poverty, which lies
mostly in rural areas.
76. The potential for irrigated agriculture
(137,000 ha) is largely sufficient to meet all the
country needs for rice and a significant part of its
vegetables and other diversification crops needs
if yields are improved. It could also provide fodder
for intensive dairy farming. Current average yield
for paddy in Mauritania is 4.24 tons/ha with
several farmers achieving 6 tons/ha and, for few
of them, even 8 tons/ha. Local climate allows for
a second crop but very few practice it.
77. The potential in rain fed agriculture, despite
the harsh climate and the irregularity of rainfall,
can be better valued if the limited water and soil
resources are well exploited and managed in a
sustainable way. This would improve the food
security of poor rural populations and uplift their
economic conditions.
78. Livestock also has a significant potential for
improvement: it can not only satisfy a significant
portion of domestic milk demand but also
supply red meat for the entire domestic market
and export to neighboring countries. Livestock
byproducts (hides) can also be processed locally
using modern techniques and bring additional
value added.
79. Inland fishing, currently practiced at small
a scale by local communities along the Senegal
river and its tributaries as well as in water
reservoirs such as Foum Gleita in the Gorgol, is
done in a very traditional and inefficient way
and it receives little attention from the fisheries
department. The effective development of
inland fisheries and aquaculture can supply rural
communities with a valuable local source of animal
protein and generate additional employment and
income.
3.4 Government Strategy
80. A Rural Sector Development Strategy of
(RSDS) was elaborated in 1998, updated in 2001
and revisited in 2006 to ensure its harmony with
the orientations of PRSP I and PRSP II. The RSDS
identified four strategic objectives: (i) promote the
growth of the sector to ensure food security for
the country; (ii) ensure equitable access to sector
resources; (iii) increase the supply and availability
of goods and public services required for the
sustainable development of the sector and (iv)
developing management capacity for promoting
MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015