World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Celebrity Chef and WFP Hunger Advocate, Yudhika Sujanani, visits Lesotho to see how WFP, The Kingdom of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa are working together to bring school meals to 125,000 children in difficult to reach areas of Lesotho. Page 36-38

Backed into a corner by an unrelenting drought that has left their district broken and desolate, a World Food Programme-initiative is what could provide the much-needed rescue for residents of Mafeteng      

The small kingdom of Lesotho is experiencing a severe food crisis for many months. (..) At the beginning of February we also distributed cash vouchers so the most vulnerable people could buy food in the markets, and we saw people dancing because they would be able to buy some maize and corn. We also use these distributions as an opportunity to educate men and women about the dangers of violence in the homes or of young women having to sell the only thing they have left – their bodies – so that they can eat. (..) CARE will continue distributing vouchers and we plan to distribute cash to 2,000 together with the World Food Program (WFP) to the most vulnerable households following their participation in a number of environmental rehabilitation activities.

The United Nations food relief agency today announced it is scaling up its efforts to assist more than 3.5 million people in drought-hit areas of southern Africa, particularly in Malawi, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, who are now facing the start of the hunger season. “Large numbers of smallholder farmers and their families are in the grip of what is set to be one of the harshest hunger seasons of recent years,” said the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Deputy Regional Director for Southern Africa, Brenda Barton.

Lesotho's smallholder farmers are struggling as maize production is devastated after alternate drought and heavy rains. Some are being supported by WFP through a Food for Assets project in two districts. Others have moved into the towns in search of work.

Lesotho is facing a food security crisis as changing weather patterns and poverty leave some smallholder farmers with no option but to abandon farming and sell their land. (..) Many subsistence farmers in Lesotho are still struggling to recover from heavy rains over much of the country in December 2010 and January 2011 that devastated crops and livestock.

A new joint programme is changing the way the Lesotho government and its development partners deliver aid by getting different government departments, UN agencies and civil society organizations working together to help mothers and their families. (..) Previously, that help would have come, if it came at all, from various sources - the local clinic, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and extension officers from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Chinese government has donated food worth 500,000 US dollars to the government of Lesotho during a ceremony held in the capital Maseru on Wednesday.(..)WFP Country Director Bhim Udas said Lesotho would continue to need more food for its vulnerable people from countries like China because of the economic threats that include the decline of Southern African Customs Union (SACU) revenues, which has had a great impact on Lesotho’s revenue.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been feeding people in Lesotho since 1965, yet the tiny mountain kingdom is still not much closer to achieving food self-sufficiency. (..) "Something needs to change," said Bhim Udas, WFP Country Director in Lesotho, the only southern African country to harvest less in 2009 - around 86,000 metric tons (mt) of cereals - than in 2008.

Fifteen-year-old Ntsebeng Tlokotsi sighs with relief as she is given 140 dollars. Along with it she receives a bag of maize meal and cooking oil. It is a government handout, and she qualifies for this only because both her parents are dead.(..)Through the World Food Programme commodities such as maize meal, cooking oil and pulses are also provided.