Mathabang Letsoara, in her early twenties, lives with her family of six in Ha Tsiu, a village 100km east of Maseru, capital of Lesotho. Food production in their village has fallen steadily.
"We have less than half a sack of maize to live on," she says. Letsoara points to a sack of maize, no higher than her knee, stored in a corner of their mud-and-stone house. It is at least another eight months to the next harvest.
Food prices have also gone up. The price of maize-meal has shot up by 59 percent between July 2008 and March 2007, according to a survey by the World Food Programme (WFP), while cooking oil has risen by 100 percent over the same period: a 750ml bottle now costs about R18 (a little more than US$2).
Letsoara's brother, who is in his forties, is a subsistence farmer, but the rains have yet to arrive so planting has not begun. Most villagers depend on casual labour to support their families between harvests, but work is scarce and household incomes vary. Hunger is often a constant companion.
"I am worried about my mother," says Letsoara. Her mother is frail, sick and bed-ridden, but there is no money to take her to the doctor. "I don't know what is wrong with her. We are able to eat for now – but we don't know for how long."
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
