Lesotho: Crisis and development in the rural sector

Abstract

Lesotho faces an impending employment crisis of staggering dimensions. The fragile rural base, which accommodates (but does not support) the bulk of the population, continues to deteriorate, and agricultural productivity remains low and unstable. As a result, landlessness and rural poverty are both on the increase. At the same time, developments within the South African mining industry and the regional political economy have reduced opportunities for Basotho † † The people of Lesotho are collectively known as the Basotho. An individual is a Mosotho, and the language is Sesotho. to enter the migrant labour system which is the major source of household income in the country. The government's development efforts, however, have met with little success. None of the agricultural programmes introduced over the years have produced very encouraging results. Diamond mining has been discontinued, and the much vaunted tourism industry has been hard hit by competition from bantustan casinos. Equally, in attempting to attract foreign corporate investment, Lesotho has found it difficult to compete with incentives on offer in South Africa's decentralized ‘growth points’. The paper begins with an overview of the crisis. It then examines the difficulties encountered by the government in developing the all-important rural sector. A critical analysis of current development strategies provides the basis for a discussion of alternatives in the remainder of the paper. In this context, the establishment of cooperative ventures is the focus of debate. An important aspect of this discussion is the role of women who have been largely ‘invisible’ to planners even though they often assume central decision-making positions in migrant-dependent households. The possibility of developing non-farm activities in rural areas is also considered.