Africa-Press – Lesotho. When the government of Lesotho announced mitigation plans to minimize the impact of the national lockdown as a result of coronavirus on the country’s economy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security pledged M100 million to enhance food production. It was suggested by the then Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Hon. Litšoane Litšoane that the said budget would be allocated through one channel as competitive grants wherein beneficiaries will submit proposals for consideration.
A system which would, to some extend mean that access to the grant would be based on how sound and smart a proposal would be, rather than the real need on the ground. Even though there hasn’t been any confirmation on this notion as yet, Lesotho National Farmers Union (LENAFU) has moved swiftly to advice the government against it, calling for a common interest based intervention.
Lesotho National Farmers Union (LENAFU) is a corporation of farmer groupings in Lesotho namely 10 district farmer associations, 5 national commodity farmer associations and 2 national non-state actor associations/cooperatives. It exists to enhance farmer contribution in transforming agriculture sector in Lesotho.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Informative Newspaper, LENAFU president ‘Mamolise Lawrence reiterated that most of their farmers in the country are subsistence farmers not commercial, therefore if grants could be allocated in a formal way of tendering, majority of the farmers in real need will be left out. In that way she said the budget will not have served the purpose if the biggest chunk of local farmers will not access the grant. She therefore called for quite a robust approach that will go as far as assisting and engaging the farmers at the grassroots and not the formal way which will likely target large scale/commercial farmers who are not even hard-hit by the effects of this pandemic like those that will likely be left out if the proposed way could be implemented. She stated that the government should turn this pandemic into an advantage by maximizing food production. While the people were home and not working, that she said was a good time that almost everyone was home and would have time to go to the fields and produce. As LENAFU, she said they would like to advice the government to address the common interest of the farming community in Lesotho rather than temporarily addressing what is even a smaller portion of the general problem.
She suggested that the grant targets enhancing production at present while also establishing means to sustain food availability amid the uncertainty of when the virus will subdue. In that regard she said building food storages, mobile livestock clinics and mobile soil testing among other things would sustain the value chain for now and beyond. She said currently some farmers are hesitant to produce because they are not sure where they will be able to store their produce while the market is paused.
But if there could be storages, she said farmers could produce enough food that will be stored in better conditions awaiting the reopening of markets and for things to get back to normal. Lawrence went on to bemoan the fact that the farmers thorough their unions are left out
of the current decision making authority that is the National Emergency Command Centre (NECC). For some time now she said they have been approaching relevant
authorities to be allowed to represent the farmers in the center but to no avail. If they were engaged directly in decision-making she said they would address farmers’ issues with a better knowledge of what is happening on the ground and help the center make well informed decisions.
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