Land Use Practices in Lesotho: Implications for Sustainability in Agricultural Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Kingdom of Lesotho is a small mountainous country that is completely surrounded by South Africa. With an estimated land area of 30,358 km2 only about 13% is suitable for arable production with agriculture contributing about 14% of the Gross National Product (GNP). In the past, the country was able to feed itself and in good years surpluses were produced and exported to other countries. However, during the 1920's, food production in the country began to decline and by 1930 Lesotho has become a net importer of food grains. The central theme of this paper is to examine the land use practices in Lesotho and how these have affected food production and their implications for sustainable agriculture in the country. The land use practices adopted in Lesotho include the extensive extractive cultivation system that leads to over-exploitation of the soil with serious land depletion and soil erosion problem. This system has contributed to massive land loss that the country has witnessed in the last decades. Also, the unplanned and uncoordinated use of the range lands by farmers has led to serious overstocking of the grazing land. The communal land tenure system discourages long-term investment on the land for soil conservation and regeneration. The aftermath is that the number of rural households that are landless has steadily increased over the years. To sustain productivity, the stock of natural resources like land should remain non-declining to meet the criterion for sustainability. It is therefore recommended that efforts be made to reverse this trend of soil and land loss in Lesotho. This would significantly expand agricultural growth, ensure food security and above all conserve land for future generation.