Lesotho's Rural Development Policy: Objectives and Problems.

Abstract

Lesotho's rural development policy evolved at the beginning of the second decade of the last century. Initially it was an attempt to shore up the Basotho subsistence economy through efforts directed at protecting the fertility of the soil and to protect animals from diseases. After independence rural development, hitherto an ensemble of discrete interventions, became part of the overall national development plan. The number of state-funded agricultural projects directed at developing rural communities increased throughout the country. However, these have had little or no positive impact on the lives of the rural people. While the policy's failures have been blamed correctly on the approach by both the governments concerned and the donors, little is said on the structural issues and forces that may have, in combination or otherwise, contributed to the problem. In fact, where such structural issues are mentioned - for example, poverty - are seen simply as diseases to be removed rather than as impediments to development. This paper attempts to fill this gap, trying to show that the familiar parameters of Lesotho's economy - dependency, dominance of foreign aid, poverty and subsistence production (including its institutional/social basis) are not just policy targets but determinants of policy and its outcomes.



Review of Southern African Studies Volume 3 No. 1 June 1999, pp. 38-59