LESOTHO: U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) ESTIMATES OVER 900,000 PEOPLE FACE STARVATION IN LESOTHO

Record ID: 645117

  • Title: LESOTHO: U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP) ESTIMATES OVER 900,000 PEOPLE FACE STARVATION IN LESOTHO
  • Date: 21st October 2004
  • Summary: (U4) LERIBE, NORTH WEST LESOTHO (OCTOBER 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV/PAN: DRY FIELDS OF RURAL AREA 0.14 2. LV: MAN LOOKING AFTER CATTLE AND SHEEP 0.21 3. GV: EMPTY HOMESTEAD 0.26 4. VARIOUS OF WORLD FOOD PROGRAMMES' (WFP) FOOD FOR WORK PROGRAMME, VILLAGERS BUILDING CHICKEN HOUSE NEXT TO A SCHOOL (7 SHOTS) 1.06 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Sesotho)THIRTY FOUR YEARS-OLD MAMOHLALEFI THAMAE, VILLAGE WOMAN SAYING: "I have no alternative but to come and work here in order to get food to feed my two children. I am a widow and don't I have money to till the land. Even if I did plant a crop the drought won't let it grow. We'll starve." 1.31 6. VARIOUS WFPs FOOD FOR WORK, MEN CONSTRUCTING WATER TANK NEXT TO SCHOOL (3 SHOTS) 1.47 7. VARIOUS AIDS ORPHANS AT THE ST. DAVID PRIMARY SCHOOL RECEIVE WFP FOOD RATIONS (3 SHOTD) 2.08 8. VARIOUS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION (2 SHOTS) 2.19 (U4) MASERU. LESOTHO (OCTOBER 21, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. WFP OFFICIAL, MADS LOVSALL 2.24 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MADS LOVSALL, DEPUTY COUNTRY DIRECTOR WFP SAYING: "It's predicted that until the next harvest 948,000 people will require some kind of food assistance. Out of that WFP is trying to reach 600,000 people as we feel these are the people most in need." 2.43 11. VARIOUS OF ORPHANS SIGNING FOR FOOD RATIONS (3 SHOTS) 2.55 12. (SOUNDBITE)(English) MADS LOVSALL SAYING: "The malnutrition is affecting people in the sense that they are getting weaker. The children can not go to school and their growth rate is hampered due to insufficient intake of food. And therefore, especially with HIV/Aids situation in the country, where nutrition plays a vital role in containing the diseases related to HIV/Aids, if that continues then you'll see that area planted will go down because people will simply not be strong enough to out and cultivate." 3.39 13. VARIOUS PEOPLE ON STREETS OF CAPITAL CITY (3 SHOTS) 3.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LERIBE AND MASERU, LESOTHO
  • Country: Lesotho
  • Reuters ID: LVACR9HSSMIDSGAA470PY1IDTNVI
  • Story Text: U.N World Food Programme (WFP) says over 900,000
    people face starvation in Lesotho.


    Three years of drought and no respite have dealt
    this land a crippling blow. The farms and fields that once
    fed the citzens of southern Africa's mountainous Kingdom of
    Lesotho are dusty and dry after drought and the failure of
    the 2004 harvest.

    Britain's Prince Harry visited the region in March this
    year, to work first hand with those in need, but the
    situation since has grown worse.

    The U.N World Food Programme (WFP) now estimates that
    over 900,000 people in Lesotho require food aid before the
    next planting season and has initiated several food aid
    programmes to help stem the problem.

    "I have no alternative but to come and work here here
    in order to get food to feed my two children. I am a widow
    and don't I have money to till the land. Even if I did
    plant a crop the drought won't let it grow. We'll starve,"
    said 34 years-old village woman Mamohlalefi Thamae, as she
    worked one such programme in the north west village of
    Leribe.

    What excaberates the problems is that Lesotho has
    historically been ravaged by poverty and high AIDS rates,
    with its workforce made up largely of migrant miners working in
    neighbouring South Africa. The older generation
    with farming skills has almost been wiped out by AIDS and
    the country has over 90,000 orphans.

    "The malnutrition is affecting people in the sense that
    they are getting weaker. The children can not go to school
    and their growth rate is hampered due to insufficient
    intake of food. And therefore, especially with HIV/Aids
    situation in the country, where nutrition plays a vital
    role in containing the diseases related to HIV/Aids, if
    that continues then you'll see that area planted will go
    down because people will simply not be strong enough to out
    and cultivate,"said Mads Lovsall of the WFP.

    Aid agencies estimate almost 2 million people in
    Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi would rely on emergency food
    aid in the first half of 2005 because of the 2004 crop
    failure and break down of a strategic grain reserve
    initiative in the region.

    The WFP recently launched an appeal for funding three
    years of relief efforts, for southern African countries
    affected by food shortages. 63 million U.S. dollars (USD)
    is needed immediately to help people in the first quarter
    of 2005.


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