KING Letsie III recently met with FAO Director General Qu Dongyu, at the Matsieng Royal Palace in Maseru, where they discussed among others, Lesotho’s devasting food insecurity crisis.
In welcoming Dr Dongyu, His Majesty expressed gratitude for having accepted the invitation to visit Lesotho.
The King described the Dr Dongyu’s visit as historic for Lesotho, as it was taking place at a time when the country was facing immense food security challenges due to an El Nino induced drought.
The King noted that 700 000 Basotho, almost three quarters of Lesotho’s 2.3 million population could face serious famine conditions this year due to the drought.
On July 12, Prime Minister Sam Matekane declared a national food insecurity disaster over the next eight months from last month through to March 2025.
He therefore called on Lesotho’s development partners to come on board to assist the country overcome the challenge.
It was during his meeting with Dr Dongyu, that His Majesty stated that 2024 was an important year for Lesotho, as the country was celebrating and commemorating 200 years of the Basotho nation’s existence.
The King further stated that the celebrations were paired with work that would assist to speed up the impetus towards agrifood systems transformation for ending hunger and malnutrition.
The King added that he was, however, encouraged by the enthusiasm and commitment expressed by Dr Dongyu and the FAO country team in the execution of their mandate and looked forward to increased collaboration to put Lesotho, and Africa, on a higher and different trajectory on nutrition and food security issues.
He also emphasized the need to intensify efforts to eradicate poverty and end hunger, while also paying closer attention to ensuring better nutrition and mitigating the challenges caused by the impacts of climate change.
King Letsie III further underscored the need to build resilience in agriculture for smallholder farmers to ensure sustainable food production.
He also indicated that FAO had a pivotal role to play in anchoring the government and people of Lesotho to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s, especially for the eradication of poverty and ending hunger.
For his part, Dr Dongyu expressed his deep gratitude and appreciation for the invitation and warm welcome.
He stated that his visit to Lesotho was to appreciate the continued support that His Majesty had extended to him in his work as FAO Director-General, as well as the King’s role as FAO Special Goodwill Ambassador for Nutrition, championing nutrition causes.
Dr Dongyu informed the King, that he would use the opportunity of his visit, to strengthen FAO’s work on the ground in Lesotho, to study firsthand the shortcomings and strengths to mobilize the needed support and develop a concrete plan to move the country forward with the required technical support through various programmes and projects.
The FAO DG also reaffirmed his commitment to support Lesotho in its efforts to improve and transform its agrifood system and improve rural livelihoods.
He again referred to the importance of effective water management projects for agrotourism and aquaculture, further recommending that the country established Green Cities to develop vertical growing systems to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis, and to increase adaptation and resilience.
In this regard, he was pleased that he would be witnessing the signing of the Letters of Intent for the FAO Green Cities Initiative and other Technical Cooperation Programmes which would assist the country.
Both agreed His Majesty and Dr Dongyu, agreed that 2024 would mark the beginning of an important period of action and a new era for increased growth and modernization.
