In a remote village of southern Africa’s small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, a farmer trudges through his dry and cracked land, struggling to pull up withered stalks and roots from the parched soil. This drought, which has been severely affecting countries across southern Africa for months, has turned what was once a productive plot into a barren wasteland.
Daniel Phoofolo, the farmer, recalls how his plot used to provide enough food for his family and even leave some to sell. However, the persistent drought has stripped the land of its fertility, leaving him with nothing but desiccated remains of crops. His wife has had to leave for neighboring South Africa in search of work, leaving Phoofolo to care for their two young daughters on his own. They have been forced to reduce their meals to just two per day: bread and tea in the morning, and milk with maize-meal porridge in the evening.
At 55 years old, Phoofolo is visibly distressed as he looks over his fields of withered maize. The drought has turned the landscape into a dry, brown expanse, and the once-productive land now offers little hope. His family, residing near the northwestern border town of Butha-Buthe, is part of the 700,000 people affected by hunger in Lesotho. In July, the government declared a national disaster due to the dire crop failures and threats to food availability caused by the ongoing drought.
The crisis extends beyond Lesotho. Countries such as Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are also grappling with severe drought conditions, attributed to the most intense El Niño event in a century. This climatic event has devastated crops and livestock across the region, pushing these nations to declare their own states of disaster.
Phoofolo, who has tried planting potatoes in the hope of salvaging something from his fields, finds that his efforts are in vain due to the lack of rain. Lesotho, a nation struggling with poverty, has about a quarter of its two million residents unemployed and half living below the poverty line, according to the country’s development planning ministry. The World Food Programme reports that around 80 percent of Lesotho’s population depends on subsistence farming, making them particularly vulnerable to the effects of the drought.
For many farmers in Butha-Buthe, this year marks the first time their crops have failed completely. District councillor Tshepo Makara explains that the situation has reached unprecedented levels of severity. “Previously, it hasn’t been this bad. In Lesotho, we rely on farming for survival, and this year’s poor harvests have led to widespread suffering. That’s why the government had to step in,” Makara says.
In response to the crisis, the government has implemented a temporary employment scheme that provides local Basotho people with 500 loti (about $27) for two weeks of work on projects such as road maintenance and cemetery cleaning. One participant is 59-year-old Arabang Polanka, a widower with four children, who now works on a road project. His fields, once filled with beetroot, spinach, and onions, now yield only a few small cabbages. His children, who previously enjoyed a full meal before school, now attend classes without breakfast, and he fears they may soon have to go to bed without dinner.
In Lipelaneng village, near Polanka’s home, the drought has drained local water sources. A group of women washes clothes in a small pool at the end of a dry riverbed, while a child leads a donkey in search of water. The dire conditions have prompted Prime Minister Sam Matekane to call for international aid, and he has allocated two million loti to support vulnerable families.
The World Food Programme warns that the situation may deteriorate further as the drought continues. With at least 27 million people affected across southern Africa, the crisis underscores the region’s heavy dependence on agriculture. Lola Castro, the acting regional director of the World Food Programme, highlights the widespread impact of the drought in an interview.
The failure of crops has not only led to food shortages but has also eliminated a critical source of income for many subsistence farmers in Lesotho. With fewer resources, there has been a rise in stock theft as people struggle to afford meat. In response, authorities are encouraging farmers to switch to drought-resistant crops such as sorghum. Some communities in Lesotho are pooling their limited resources and labor to create village gardens, hoping to share the limited produce they can harvest.
Phoofolo is also seeking solutions to cope with the ongoing drought. He plans to dig a small dam to capture and store water in case the rains continue to fail. Despite his efforts, the drought remains a significant source of distress. “The drought troubles me greatly,” Phoofolo says. “It keeps me up at night, worrying about how we will survive.”
The severe drought impacting Lesotho and other southern African nations highlights the urgent need for both immediate relief and long-term strategies to mitigate the effects of such climatic extremes. As the region faces one of its most challenging times in decades, the resilience of its people and the effectiveness of international aid will play crucial roles in overcoming this crisis.