Lesotho needs $18,9-million to help feed more than a third of its population after the country’s crop was destroyed by a prolonged dry spell during the 2006/07 cropping season, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
About 550 000 people out of a population of 1,8-million in Lesotho, which declared a state of emergency on July 9, will need food aid between now and the next harvest in May next year, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement.
Stubbornly hot temperatures and a prolonged dry spell early this year have largely destroyed the country’s maize and sorghum harvest, making it the worst drought in three decades.
Lesotho is expected to produce only 72 000 tons of cereal this year, way below the 328 000-ton yearly consumption demand. The problem is compounded by high food prices in South Africa — which supplies about 70% of Lesotho’s food needs — after the country suffered the same conditions. So far, maize prices have gone up by 60% since April, and have doubled since 2005.
”Rising costs leave the poorest families unable to cope, while intensifying the impact of HIV/Aids on food-insecure households. About 270 000 people in Lesotho are living with the condition,” the UN said.
While providing food assistance to Lesotho’s food-insecure households is an immediate concern, there was also an urgent need to help poor households to resume their crop-production activities in the next agricultural season.
The government of Lesotho has allocated $12-million for cash-for-work projects and $6-million for agricultural activities, and plans to provide a government subsidy for maize meal are nearly complete.
But additional humanitarian assistance was needed to address food needs, agriculture, early recovery, healthcare, nutrition, protection and water and sanitation for a period of six months, according to the UN.
”We hope that at the end of a fully funded flash appeal, food production will have recovered and farmers will be better cushioned against future shocks,” said John Holmes, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Last week, on July 25, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $3,8-million — $710 748 to the United Nations Children’s Fund, $1,45-million to the World Food Programme (WFP) and $1,66-million to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) — to jumpstart urgent programmes in response to the emergency in Lesotho.
Life-saving interventions funded by the CERF include the establishment of therapeutic feeding centres, provision of agricultural inputs and emergency food assistance.
An appeal has already been launched to address food shortages in Swaziland, affecting more than 400 000 people. Except for Malawi, Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania, cereal production declined across Southern Africa compared with the previous agricultural year.
In Zimbabwe, more than two million people are expected to face food shortages from July, a number expected to peak at more than four million people in early 2008, the UN has warned. — I-Net Bridge