Lesotho declares food emergency, appeals for international aid

MASERU (AFP) Feb 11, 2004
Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili on Wednesday declared a food emergency in the drought-hit southern African nation and appealed for aid from the international community and development agencies.

Mosisili said on state television that in addition to the 32,000 tonnes of maize and other cereals requested from the international community two years ago, Lesotho now required another 57,000 tonnes of food to feed some 600,000 people who will need food aid until the end of the 2004-2005 harvest.

"The last winter saw neither rain nor snow and the continued drought through the 2003 summer meant a further delay in the planting of crops for the season," he said.

The prime minister said the appeal for international assistance was only a short-term measure, adding that the government would continue efforts to revitalize agriculture to achieve food security.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) representative in Lesotho, Techeste Zergaber, earlier Wednesday said: "The situation is not good. Estimates show that between 600,000 and 700,000 people will require food aid in the coming months."

"The situation is worse than in 2002, as at that time we were covering eight districts out of 10, and this year the whole country is affected," Zergaber added.

Lesotho's government declared a state of emergency in April 2002 and appealed for international help, but so far the response has been poor.

Agriculture and Food Security Minister Rakoro Phororo said the situation had become so bad that the country was battling to maintain its free education system, as children are enrolled into schools which guarantee them at least one free meal a day.

A recent mid-season strategic assessment and disaster preparedness meeting, held by the Southern African Development Community in Maputo, indicated that most southern African countries might not be able to meet food requirements for the next year because of drought.

Lesotho is among the list of countries which also included Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

The meeting agreed that these countries had recorded low water levels in their rivers, dams and groundwater as a result of drought conditions, pushing up the price of staple foods due to low production.

TERRA.WIRE