Landlocked Lesotho faces food crisis amid Covid border closures Silence Charumbira in Maseru
Almost a quarter of Lesotho’s population will require food aid between January and March as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.
More than 580,000 people out of a population of 2.2 million are estimated to be food insecure, despite predictions of normal to above average rains this year and the potential for above average cereal production.
The FAO said Covid-19 had reduced household incomes, harming people’s ability to buy fertiliser or to hire workers, which was “likely to limit the potential increases in yields”.