{"id":8822,"date":"2022-01-19T13:01:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T13:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc"},"modified":"2022-01-19T13:45:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T13:45:04","slug":"extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","title":{"rendered":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, land degradation, infrastructure and food insecurity.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Informative Newspaper, a farmer, Reverend Motipi Ranthimo said that his crops which includes potatoes, red cabbage and maize were affected by heavy rains, though not very much.<\/p>\n

He stated that the reason in which the crops are affected by heavy rains is because even though they need moisture as an essential factor to grow; there should not be much of it in order to give the<\/p>\n

soil and crops a chance to breathe. Rev. Ranthimo further indicated that the fruit trees which bear peaches in October, November and December were badly affected to a point where<\/p>\n

the fruits even fell off from the trees. He had observed that the peach trees are extremely susceptible to soil flooding as a result, they drop the fruits to<\/p>\n

try to survive as they cannot tolerate to be without oxygen due to flooding. A Climate Change Ambassador Letsatsi Lekhooa defined extreme weather events as weather conditions that are below and above normal.<\/p>\n

With an example of heavy prolonged rains, too much sunlight, strong winds and above normal snowfalls. Lekhooa also disclosed that these extreme weather events which affect<\/p>\n

crop production exacerbate Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as they disrupt food availability, reduce access to food and affect food quality thus leading families into violence when there is no provision of food on the table, which<\/p>\n

in most cases is expected to be done by women. He emphasized, \u201cLand degradation is another challenge brought about by heavy rainfalls. During floods, when rains batter the earth\u2019s surface where<\/p>\n

it has been degraded, most of the water flows into the water bodies and becomes surface run-off. This in turn leads to low retention of moisture in the soil<\/p>\n

which leads to droughts. \u201d Lekhooa opined that in order to reduce vulnerability from the extreme weather events, he recommends the intervention of the government and<\/p>\n

communities to have and profile climate change experts as well as other stakeholders and implement a National Disaster Recovery Committee, a team that<\/p>\n

will be dealing with recoveries from climatic disasters. Conservation Agriculture Expert Bereng Mokete mentioned that during the heavy rains soil does not become workable and its structure can be seriously<\/p>\n

destroyed by compaction. In addition, he indicated that majority of farm tools are not muddy-user-friendly. Mokete further pointed out that the heavy rains impact crops on weeds<\/p>\n

competition as majority of the weed species tolerate heavy rains hence grow faster while the crops\u2019 growth is retarded by the heavy rains and weeds out-compete them.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlants need air, moisture and nutrients to survive which all are found in the soil pores. Too much rain closes the soil pores hence no air circulation as a results, roots don\u2019t grow,\u201d Mokete highlighted.<\/p>\n

According to a New International Study (2021) called Global climate change impacts on crops expected within 10 years that included researchers from International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), National<\/p>\n

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK): climate change may affect the production of maize and wheat by 2030 if current trends continue.<\/p>\n

Maize crop yields are projected to decline by 24%, while wheat could potentially see growth of about 17%. Using advanced climate and agricultural models, scientists found<\/p>\n

that the change in yields is due to projected increment in temperature, shifts in rainfall patterns, and elevated surface carbon dioxide concentrations from<\/p>\n

human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. These changes would make it more difficult to grow maize in the tropics, but could expand wheat\u2019s growing range.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the Report of Climate Risk Country Profile on the Climate Related Hazards by the World Bank Group, Lesotho has a high degree of risk to natural hazards, including floods, drought, frost, strong winds, and<\/p>\n

heavy snowfall. Drought is a recurring hazard which results in disasters for communities and the wider economy. Key impacted sectors include agriculture and<\/p>\n

livestock, water, tourism, and health. Impacts of extreme rainfall events on public and private infrastructure has resulted in costly repairs, road closures, limited or no access to electricity, and complete failures of sewage<\/p>\n

and storm water systems. Temperature proliferation are affecting infrastructure sensitive to temperature extremes, such as roads. Rainfall and temperature changes are<\/p>\n

impacting agriculture and food security and extreme weather events are affecting tourism and livelihoods that depend on the sector and have caused human and livestock deaths, property damage, and loss of crops.<\/p>\n

Natural hazards are exacerbated in many mountainous areas of Lesotho and the country is particularly vulnerable as more than 70% of the population live in remote and<\/p>\n

ecologically fragile mountainous terrain. The country is also severely impacted by drought. While drought conditions are generally a common phenomenon of the<\/p>\n

climate in southern Africa, Lesotho has experienced increasingly frequent occurrences of drought in recent years. The country\u2019s worst dry spells were experienced in 2002\/3, when<\/p>\n

760,000 people were affected, as well as in 2006\/7 when rainfall levels for the<\/p>\n

critical months of January to March in which 45% of the expected precipitation. For the months of December 2010 and January 2011, Lesotho saw unprecedented<\/p>\n

rains, floods and rock slides that destroyed crops, livestock and property. These events resulted in significant impact upon key economic sectors including<\/p>\n

agriculture, transport, health, and education, with total losses and damages estimated at 3.2% of the GDP. Heaviest damages were sustained by the roads sector, livestock, education,<\/p>\n

and housing. Heaviest losses in production were sustained by crops, road transport, and commerce sectors. Extreme rainfall has resulted in soil erosion,<\/p>\n

land degradation, loss of ecosystems and ecosystem services, alien species invasion, salinization of groundwater, and flood trails containing pesticides<\/p>\n

and fertilizer. More than 90% of disasters in Lesotho are related to climate variability and change, specifically, drought, snowfall, hailstorms, strong<\/p>\n

wind, localized floods, early frost and pest infestations. Recent hailstorms, heavy rains, and flash floods in Lesotho have resulted in significant damage to houses, vehicles, roads, schools, and health centers as well as key crops, maize, beans, and sorghum.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, land degradation, infrastructure and food insecurity. In an interview with Informative Newspaper, a farmer, Reverend Motipi Ranthimo said that his crops which includes potatoes, red cabbage and maize were affected by heavy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245,1425],"class_list":["post-8822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-weather"],"yoast_head":"\nExtreme weather events wreak havoc - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extreme weather events wreak havoc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Extreme weather events wreak havoc\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\"},\"wordCount\":1021,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"weather\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\",\"name\":\"Extreme weather events wreak havoc - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":682,\"caption\":\"Extreme weather events wreak havoc\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Extreme weather events wreak havoc\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc - Lesotho","description":"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc","og_description":"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":682,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc","datePublished":"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc"},"wordCount":1021,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","Lesotho","weather"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc","name":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-19T13:01:02+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-19T13:45:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The recent extreme weather events which include heavy rains and strong winds have caused a great harm on crops, fruits, ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/01\/img-61e815bf6aeec.jpg","width":720,"height":682,"caption":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/extreme-weather-events-wreak-havoc#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Extreme weather events wreak havoc"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}