Lesotho Farmers in Limbo as U.S. Ends Poultry Initiative

A $31.4 million project by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), aimed at overhauling Lesotho’s poultry industry, has been discontinued. The five-year initiative, part of the American Food for Progress programme, was intended to establish 28,000 poultry businesses and increase meat production by 40% and egg production by 30% by 2028.

But less than two years after its launch, the Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS) project has been halted, leaving thousands of farmers uncertain about their future.

Mampho Thulo, Managing Director of Rural Self-Help, expressed concern, noting that their organization had already been uneasy following the U.S. government’s decision to cut funding from other programs like USAID, PEPFAR, and the recent R6-billion Millennium Challenge Account. She had hoped, however, that agricultural initiatives would remain unaffected.