LESOTHO

The Honourable Pakalitha Mosisili, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs of the Kingdom of Lesotho

On behalf of the Lesotho delegation, I wish to convey to you warm regards from the Government and People of Lesotho and to congratulate the Bureau of this Summit for the good work they are doing in guiding the deliberations of this important occasion. May I also take this opportunity to convey our deepest congratulations and gratitude for the warm welcome and generous hospitality of the Government and people of Italy.

I wish to start by recalling that last year, Ministers of Agriculture of the Member Nations of FAO met in Quebec City, Canada, not only to celebrate 50 years of the founding of the Organization but also to reflect on its achievements over that period. It is my understanding that many of those gathered there felt that, despite notable successes, there is a great deal that needs to be done towards the fulfilment of the objectives of the Organization. We therefore applaud the initiative taken by the Director-General of FAO in convening this World Summit where the world can at the highest level commit itself to fight hunger.

The objective of achieving food security for all is a noble but mammoth task, therefore we need to be very clear in what we mean by food security for all, and most important we need to be clear as to what are the causes of food insecurity, and what can be the possible remedies we can all adopt to overcome this problem. We need to do this bearing in mind that the solutions to the problem lie not with any single person but in our collective selves as individuals, households, communities, nations, regions and international organizations and institutions.

In Lesotho we are aware of the plight of a country as well as that of the Continent of Africa where statistics point to the food problem which is more critical than in other parts of the world, and that it will get worse unless measures are taken to holt, and in line with this summit, to reverse the situation.

It is very difficult on a subject as complex as food security to say what are the causes and what are the solutions. But for us in Lesotho we have identified poverty as the main source of our problems. The question then becomes: what do we do, how do we begin to address the problem, particularly in a country like ours which is not as well endowed with agricultural resources as is the rest of the Continent. The answer for us seems to be human development. Lesotho government policy is therefore to put in place conditions that will enable individuals, families and communities to break the unfortunate cycle of poverty. In doing so we are cognizant of the fact that unemployment is the main cause of poverty.

Many of you will recall that in recent years our already grim unemployment situation was further exacerbated by a prolonged drought that occurred in most of Southern Africa, including Lesotho and which was particularly severe at the beginning of the 1990s. Fortunately the rains are back and the food security situation of our nations as a whole has never been higher. Food production is at an all time high and the economy is growing much faster than the population rate. Unfortunately, though, national food security has not translated into individual household food security. The situation varies widely. It has therefore been necessary to put in place measures aimed at correcting these imbalances.

We need to put in place policies that will take into consideration factors such as our relatively high levels of literacy which translates into a very competitive and reliable work force and one that is very crucial for economic growth. We are now devoting part of our national resources directly to job creation. As a result, both in the urban and rural areas, a number of our people are now engaged in Government-financed development projects. For example, all proceeds from the Lesotho highlands water project do not go to the National Treasury but rather to the development fund, the sole objective of which is for the communities to create their own development and job generation schemes. For Lesotho this is indeed a substantial amount.

However, even as the policies are beginning to bear fruit, as witnessed by the fact that during the last three years, we have had very good real growth rates, we are aware that economic growth per se does not necessarily mean better living conditions for the majority of the population. That is why another aspect of our overall policy is to increase spending, enhance investment in those sectors that are important to human development and for which only the Government can play a major role, such as health and education. We believe that this is the kind of investment that will make a difference in the livelihood of our people in the long run.

Up to now I have outlined in very broad terms, and with some examples, our problems and our policies as well as our objectives and goals in overcoming the omnipresent problem of food insecurity in our country. By so doing though, it does not mean that the details as indeed the other aspects of food security, such as population growth, trade, protection of the environment, good governance and an enabling political environment which are so well covered in the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action for the World Food Summit, are of less importance.

Finally, allow me to once again express appreciation to the Director-General of FAO for having convened this World Food Summit and to reiterate my country's commitment to the ideals of this Summit as embodied in the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action. We look forward to doing this in partnership with the global community and not only for the sake of Lesotho and Africa, but for the sake of all mankind.