Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho Supply Development Programme (LSDP) will facilitate training for 50 Farm Assurers in a bid to grow agricultural sector and boost job creation and economic growth in Lesotho.
LSDP is a four partner’s programme comprising the Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB), Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Fin Mark Trust (FMT).
It was launched in March 2021. UNDP Project Officer Neo Mosito indicated that the project had initially opened for applications which attracted 100 applicants from which 50 were selected.
He said the project shall absorb over M2 million and is intended to run for three years focusing on the horticulture and livestock sub-sectors as the contract is expected to be renewed annually.
“The four partner organisations initiated and commenced implementation of the programme that seeks to contribute to the National Strategic Development Plan II (NSDPII) objectives for jobs creation and economic growth by focusing on the productive sectors’ capacities including agriculture, among others.
Collaboration with government ministries is through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s department of Marketing and the Ministry of Trade and Industries’ Lesotho Standards Institute in department of standards,” Mosito informed.
He noted that the LSDP aims to promote local productivity and capacity to supply local market as well as existing and future potential export demand in selected sectors and industries.
He said it firstly creates a platform for capacity building on business management, innovations and technology for business agility as well as creativity.
“This first objective is addressing an existing need to provide relevant and appropriate entrepreneurial skills as research has shown that the local private sector has limited knowledge of tendering, proposal writing techniques, as well as use of technology in business.
The second objective is to facilitate access to markets and services for Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) suppliers. This seeks to address the 81% of Basotho businesses which are retailers with little value addition or innovation and only 4% producing to sell.
Technical production skillsto improve capacity and quality of production therefore has to be improved in order to access markets and create high value jobs,” Mosito enlightened.
According to LNDC Trade Promotion Officer Moeketsi Khuele, the programme will enhance local competitiveness through exposure to global markets and introduction to quality standards.
He said there is a need to provide exposure, access to local and international markets due to the fact that the local private sector currently has low competitiveness and severely lacks business sophistication, as such there is a dire need to improve capacity as well as quality of locally produced products.
“Lack of products standardization facilities also makes it difficult for the local private sector to access formal markets. LSDP seeks to promote formalization and growth edge among local SMMEs.
This objective will be addressing the current situation where 80% of local businesses are informal, operate as sole proprietors and are either start-ups or trapped,” Khuele pointed out.
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