Lesotho desperate for food

2004-02-12 00:19

Maseru - Lesotho urgently needs 57 000 tons of food over the coming months to feed 600 000 to 700 000 people facing acute hunger as winter approaches the tiny drought-stricken country, officials said on Wednesday.

The figure, confirmed by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) this week, is almost three times that given by the agency in December, when it stood at 19 000 tons.

"It is expected that Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili (will) make a statement soon about the food shortage to appeal to the international community for assistance," Agriculture and Food Security Minister Rakoro Phororo said in Maseru.

The WFP representative in Lesotho, Techeste Zergaber, 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.

State of emergency

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

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, 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. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA