Mauritania: clean cooking improves school meals and preserves the environment for children and their families
In partnership with the German Cooperation, the United Nations World Food Programme supports a clean cooking programme that helps reduce firewood consumption, protects the environment, and alleviates households’ houseworks for children’s parents.
By Miho Mitobe and Melissa Marques
Houleye sow, 38, bent over the cooking pot and took apart the firewood as it burnt, filling the air in the schoolyard with smoke. A mother of six and former agriculture extension worker, Houleye has never left Worti, her village in southern Mauritania. She has been in charge of the village school canteen for two years, cooking school meals introduced by the Government with support from the World Food Programme (WFP).
“Cooking with firewood is not an easy task. It burns fast and puts a lot of pressure on children’s parents. If you look around, you will not find many trees. We have to walk long distances to get small quantities of wood for cooking” says Houleye.
According to the Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (2019), nearly 70% of Mauritania’s forests disappeared between 1982 and 2014 due to logging and climate change. This has adversely affected the country’s capacity to grow food and raise livestock, as 65 % of Mauritanians live on agriculture and animal husbandry.
“Over years, we have seen our land become less and less fertile. Our agricultural production has decreased to the point where during the dry seasons, we have difficulty finding food in the village and go into town for casual labour” says the village chief, Eladjh, 76.
In Worti, everyone relies on firewood or charcoal for cooking. Cooking gas and related amenities are unknown or unaffordable because of the need to travel long distances to town and unreliable supply chains.
As part of its school feeding programme, WFP has been working with communities to promote clean cooking in the Assaba region since 2021. Several villagers have been trained to adopt clean cooking methods. The main objective was to reduce charcoal consumption through the use of clay kiln. By adopting this technique, schools can reduce their firewood consumption and subsequent pressures on the environment and save the time and labour costs associated with firewood collection.
“We learned how to create a kiln with local clay. It is quick and easy to do and it is highly effective. We use half as much coal to cook the same amount of food” explains Houleye showing the kiln.
Going forward, WFP is planning to introduce energy-efficient stoves, which are cheap and easy to build using locally available resources.
This clean cooking initiative contributes to improving nutrition, while ensuring community resilience and preventing environmental degradation in Mauritania. The project is funded by the German Cooperation (BMZ) and operates in 373 schools across the country, providing morning porridge and lunch to more than 48,000 students every day.