The looming food shortages in West Africa’s Sahel region have spread from Niger and Chad to nearby Mauritania. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) estimates that the number of those afflicted by hunger will increase to 250,000 people this year. Of this population, around 150,000 are experiencing severe hunger, or on the verge of starvation.
Mauritania is one of the world’s least developed nations, ranking 154 out of 182 countries, according to the 2009 U.N. Human Development Index. The food insecurity in this country stems from the fact that they can only produce a quarter of the food necessary to feed their 3.3 million people. In addition, WFP, along with the Mauritanian government, recently released an assessment saying that due to a lack of seeds the harvest will decrease by 24 percent in 2010.
The Mauritanian government believes that it will be able to handle this surge in hunger, and plans to distribute 6,000 tons of food; however, WFP is less optimistic. “Unfortunately, we do not have enough food in our warehouse,” WFP Country Director Guy Gauvreau told Reuters AlertNet. ”The timing is bad because our reserves are depleting and the demand is increasing,”
Learn more about WFP’s efforts in Mauritania or about the food shortage in Chad and Niger.
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