MASERU — At least 22 500 villagers who were affected by heavy rains last season will receive food assistance and farming inputs from the Embassy of Ireland in Lesotho.
The vulnerable households will beginning next month receive food and seeds under a M5.4 million scheme initiated by the embassy.
They will also receive food assistance until the next harvest in April next year.
A statement from the Embassy of Ireland this week said the distribution of the assistance would be done through the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP).
It said the agricultural inputs were meant to assist the beneficiaries during the 2011 and 2012 agricultural season.
“The selection criteria will ensure that female-headed households are targeted as well as households that exhibit vulnerability, such as those that harvested nothing or very little,” the embassy said.
Households with critically ill members or members on antiretroviral drugs or tuberculosis treatment would also be included.
Also to be included under the food assistance programme would be households headed by orphans and other vulnerable groups.
The interventions would also target farmers with potential to improve their production, the embassy added.
FAO and WFP will work in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and some non-governmental organisations to implement the project.
