The Impact of Agricultural Liberalization on the Rural Poor in Lesotho: Concise Policy Appraisal of ‘Less Governance’/Deregulation on Agricultural Development

Abstract

We assessed the impact of liberalization on agricultural productivity, refuting the ideology that market liberalization has helped increase agricultural productivity in Lesotho. We focused on real market impacts as opposed to assumed benefits of the liberalized market on agricultural productivity, to provide a concise analysis of the Lesotho productivity situation, in the context of policy shift or reforms in relation to the pre-liberalization and the post-liberalization era. The problematic food import dependence issue forms part of the problem statement. The paper is mainly a policy appraisal of market liberalization with regard to impact on agriculture and the poor or poverty alleviation. Policy instruments, implications, recommendations and conclusions are debated with some supportive evidence, though limitations of the study are still revealed.