Mauritania

Mauritanian Federation of Agriculture

Agriculture in Mauritania

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania lies between longitudes 15 to 17 north and covers an area of 1,030,700 square km.

The desert climate in the north and south coast is generally hot and dry, and maximum temperatures in May-June exceed 44 degrees. The minimum temperatures can reach 10 degrees in January-February.

between 20-25 degrees in the winter which extends from November to February 40 degrees for the period from April to September.
From July to September : the rainy season. In the desert, there are very significant differences between daytime and nighttime temperatures at night the temperature can reach 0 degrees.

The harvest of 2013 is : 342,518 tones

The Agricultural Harvest (Thousand Tons)

Sorghum

126.107

Yellow corn

22.870

Wheat / barley

3.092

Rice

184.217

Wheat

3.000

Source : The Administration of the policy of collaboration monitoring and evaluation, Ministry of Rural Development.

Farm income in 2013: 1,105,544.441 tons

Wheat

379.217

Sugar

299.633

Rice

176.519

Oil

133.370

Milk (liquid / powder)

86.442

Wheat flour

11.844

Pasta

18.416

Source : National Bureau of Statistics (M. and E..) The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development

Attention : Deficit in food commodities between 30 and 35%.

Animal production systems :

We must distinguish three major livestock production systems, namely :

Intensive farming :

It is spread in most part of the country, except for the region of the river. Cattle are concentrated especially in the south – east of the country (Hodh El Sharqi, Hodh El Gharbi, Assaba ), representing 64% of the cattle butcher, 49% of cattle, sheep and goats, camels and 40% of cattle.
-This region feeds mainly the capital and the northern cities it guarantees a significant portion of export for the money market.
– Southwest (Trarza, Brakna and kourkol) Cover 25 % of the cattle of butcher’s shop 38 % of the cattle, the ovine races and the goats, and 19 % of the camels of cattle; and the surplus of the production is used to feed the Senegalese market.
– The small ruminant production is still in its early stages.
– Pastures are many, however, they can not be operated along the year, partly due to the lack of permanent water points.
– The red meat production is estimated at 111 000 tones, which largely covers the demand that is 75,000 tones, and which allows to have a surplus of 36,000 tones.The demand for meat export is 90,000 tons (estimation and marketing of red meat in Mauritania, The Ministry of Rural Development 2009).

Stable Breeding :

Semi intensive and generally practiced in the pond of the river with a light movement during the season of plantation.

Breeding animals for milk production :

The animal breeding is characterized by the absence of inventory of the cattle of breeding during the sixties ten, which were marked by the drought and led to the cancellation of the price setting of the cattle.
However we can refer to the statistics of the Directorate of Animal Development, Ministry of Rural Development presented in 2006. Estimates of cattle :

Camels : 1.413.000 heads.
Sheep : 16.700.000 heads.
Cow : 1.763.000 heads.

Livestock production in 2012 (cattle) :

Beef

1.747.000

Sheep and goats

14.777.000

Camels

1.202.000

Source : policy management, collaboration, monitoring and evaluation (.. ASTMT), Ministry of Rural Development.
  • Agricultural areas represent less than 0.5% of Mauritanian territory (about 502,000 ha) and 44% (220,000 ha) of suitable land within the production system based on the rain (Deere and Walu) that are related with rainfall, water flow and quality of its infrastructure.
  • Agricultural areas of the country, which represents less than 0.5% of the country (about production automatically depends on the Mauritanian environment, which is generally determined based on the four agro-ecological zones. where the four main production systems

80% La région chaude :

represents all usable land, and is characterized by high heat and low rainfall production is based on the oasis, palm trees and irrigated covering approximately 12,000 ha crops ie 2.4% of usable land.

The coastal area south-east :

of the country where alternate dry winter and rainy summer. The production system is pastoral. The system of production is pastoralIn the east of the country, the cattle prevail on the seed (Sorghum, corn) of the type Deere in the sandy zones. According to rain, the spaces go from 57.000 ha to 184.000 ha, that is 11 % a 37 % of the exploitable agricultural zones, The yield is weak 0.3 thunder / ha. in the South the agriculture behind dams and deep spaces prevails, spaces go of 14.000 to 60.000 ha, which represents 3 % to 12 % of all of the exploitable lands with a low yield of 0.8 thunder / ha.

The river basin of Senegal :

an area dominated by irrigated agriculture area, irrigation is used for agriculture and livestock. Level of irrigated agriculture, there are two systems :

The total irrigation water management :
which allows for three annual campaigns :

  • le riz durant la période des pluies ( juillet-octobre)
  • les fruits et légumes (sorgho, maïs) durant la période de froid (novembre-février)
  • Rice during the rainy period (July-October).

Fruits and vegetables (sorghum, maize) during the cold period (November February), rice during the summer season (March-July). 8.900ha were restored in 2012; Source: Ministry of Rural Development, September 2012. Which allowed to reach a total irrigated area of 30,000 ha or 6% of the area of usable land. Rice is the most important irrigated agriculture provides 6-8 tons which is an average of 4 tons per hectare.

The scarcity of natural resources :

exploited areas ranging from 7000 hectares (2002) to 40,000 hectares (1996). Which is equivalent to 1.4% to 8% of the utilized agricultural area. The most important of these systems predictions are sorghum and millet. The yield is relatively high 0.6 t / ha in the natural scarcity and 0.9 t / ha in scarcity observed. This method of agriculture benefits at 50% from the conduct of the Manantali dam.
Marine Zone extends over a coastal band of 50 km large from the river Nouadhibou up to its delta. This production system coastline facilitates the exploitation of special abilities of this region, moisture, with lower and more conducive to the cultivation of legumes and trees temperatures. Exploitable agricultural land is estimated at 164,000 ha in the marine area. 33% of the wholes of usable land.This littoral system of production facilitates the exploitation of the particular capacities of this region, which enjoys more humidity and lower temperatures , it is more suitable to the culture of legumes and trees. The exploitable agricultural surfaces are estimated to 164.000 ha in the marine zone. That is 33 % of all the exploitable lands.
Farming is practiced near residential centers with new technologies .The production in Walo is low, from 0.6 tones to 0.9 tones per ha.