Where We Work

Rainbow Development in Africa works exclusively in the Mid-Gorgol region of the Senegal River Valley in southern Mauritania (including the small Sylla region of northern Senegal: see map).

Mauritania is a little-known Saharan country just south of Morocco and north of Senegal in West Africa. It has a population of approximately three million, the majority of whom are Moors of Arab/Berber and Black African descent, with a minority of Black Africa tribes in the south. One generation ago, 80% of the population lived in rural areas. Today, some 60% live in towns. Resources in the country are scarce, although iron ore in the north and extensive fishing grounds on the coast bring in revenue, as do modest offshore oil reserves. The country has little infrastructure, virtually no industry and an undeveloped agricultural sector.

Main Issues

The south of the country, where Rainbow Development in Africa works, although semi-desert in the most part, has more precipitation (300mm/yr) than farther north, much of it being suitable for either rainfed, flood-recession or irrigation farming. The primary issues faced by farming communities in the south, and particularly in the Gorgol region (pop: approx 75,000) where Rainbow Development in Africa works, are as follows:

Climate
The climate has always been difficult in this region, with high temperatures and periodic drought. Climate change is now making this considerably worse, altering seasonal rainfall patterns and bringing higher temperatures. Now drought is more frequent, interspersed with biblical downpours which bring a whole seasons rain in a few days causing unprecedented flooding, the loss of whole crops and damage to houses as well as many other related problems.

Markets
Unprotected markets are frequently flooded with cheap, often subsidised imports from Europe, Morocco, Asia and elsewhere, meaning farmers cannot get realistic prices for their crops.

Inputs
The cost of diesel, fertilisers, crop-protection products, machinery and most other imported inputs continually rise well above local inflation.

Agricultural know-how
Increasingly, farmers are needing to apply more sophisticated farming practices in order to make agriculture economically viable. Extension services for farmers are virtually non-existent, however, and many farmers simply do not have the knowledge required to do this.

Political/Economic marginalisation
Twenty-five years of discrimination of the Bantu/Black peoples of southern Mauritania by the Moorish-dominated regime of ex-President Sid’Ahmed Taya (thrown out in a coup d’etat in 2005) culminated in 1990 with the reported expulsion of 60,000 people from the country and the murder of 1000. The region, even by comparison to the rest of the country, has also been systematically neglected to the point where infrastructure is extremely poor and the local population vulnerable to exploitation.

Cultural
Traditionally, the peoples of this region were pastoralists with livestock herding being their main source of income. The great sahelian droughts of the 1980's destroyed most of their livestock, however, forcing many of them to take up agriculture, an activity that did not necessarily come naturally to them. The droughts are also responsible for many different tribal and ethnic groups increasingly concentrating in the south.  This is leading to competition over resources.

Social
In line with a global trend, a more ready access to knowledge about the world that surrounds them has meant that people are becoming increasing aware of their poverty and aspire to better education, medicines and housing.

Conclusion

The result of all the above is that the south of Mauritania has a poverty threshold well below the rest of a country that itself only scores 136th out of 159 in the UN’s Human Development index. Malnutrition is endemic, medical facilities are rare and infant mortality is high. All forms of agriculture struggle to be economical with the loss of whole crops from flooding, drought or locust invasion not unusual. Seventy-five percent of young men must leave their villages to seek jobs and income elsewhere. The local economy is mostly stagnant, with private local investment rare.

An Opportunity

On a more positive note, however, people are resilient with cultural support systems that can absorb the biggest of shocks; there is a general willingness to try new things and effect change; recent changes of government and more revenue available from oil exploitation has led to a relaxation of the marginalisation of the south marked by a new roads being built and the slight emergence of the Mid-Gorgol region as an agricultural hub; and good soils, available water and plentiful sunshine give agriculture the potential to significantly change people’s lives in the region.