Kingdom records heaviest rainfall in two decades

Lesotho's heaviest rainfall in nearly two decades has destroyed more than a third of the crops in the ground ahead of the April harvest, according to the agricultural NGO, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM). The organisation's estimate of 35 percent crop loss, was based on weekly updates provided by 8,000 small-scale farmers who are members of the NGO. "Most summer crops including maize, sorghum and bean, planted in mid-December last year, were destroyed by the rain as the top soil was washed away," said Moshe Tšehlo, PELUM's coordinator. The Ministry of Agriculture and the government's Disaster Management Authority (DMA) are still assessing the damage. Heavy rain has fallen since January in the mountain kingdom, following long spells of drought, which has left 20 people dead, according to police reports. Lesotho Meteorological Services (LMS) said the recorded rain so far in 2006 was twice the amount received over the same period in 1988 - when the country experienced its last heavy storms. The rains are expected to continue into March. Years of drought has hardened the soil in Lesotho's southern districts to such an extent that the rains have cracked the ground, resulting in the formation of gullies in farmers' fields, and washing away top soil, said PELUM. The LMS has warned the bad weather could also impact on the winter harvest due in September/October. "The heavy rains will delay ploughing for the winter crops because of the wetlands that have been created," said meteorologist Mabafokeng Mahahabisa. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP), which is monitoring the situation, said frost in April could prove a further threat to the winter crop. According to WFP, 200,000 to 250,000 people out of a population of 2.2 million are chronically food insecure in Lesotho. According to WFP, food production in Lesotho has been on the decline for almost three decades because of a combination of factors including erratic weather, decreased soil fertility, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS. By 2004, cereal production was estimated to cover only 30 percent of the country's requirements. Farmers are not the only ones to have been hit hard by the recent heavy rains. "The damage caused by the rains has reversed gains of infrastructure made over years. Access roads and bridges have been destroyed, making travelling difficult for people, especially in the remote parts of Lesotho," said a report from the DMA. Rolling boulders from the mountains in the southern districts of Maseru, Leribe, Butha Buthe and Quthing have smashed houses and blocked roads, said the DMA.