Chairperson,
Honourable Governors,
His Excellency the President of IFAD,
Distinguished Delegates and Participants,

Chairperson,

On behalf of the Lesotho delegation and on my behalf, I commend all the keynote speakers including President Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, for their inspiring statements delivered at the opening of Session of this 35th Governing Council of IFAD.

This year’s theme - Sustainable Smallholder Agriculture: Feeding the world, protecting the planet, resonate concerns raised in various forums that continuously deliberate on strategies to combat poverty and suffering in the world, especially among smallholder farming households. However, to ensure sustainability of smallholder farming, farmers must be empowered by providing support which reduces the risk factor in this sub-sector, thus encourage them to invest more. The concept note mentions provision of insurance and/or linking of smallholder farmers with private investors as examples of such supportive mechanisms; more alternatives could be explored to suit individual member states’ needs and capacity.

We have embraced the concept of value chain in agriculture in our National Strategic Development Plan (2012/13 to 2016/17) and already exploring ways to sensitise relevant government staff and farmers about it.

The NEPAD/CAADP process intends to capacitate us on this system, but we are also looking forward to the release of the forthcoming IFAD Private Sector Strategy.

This strategy I hope would help my country to move forward in this sphere because we are currently struggling to link farmers with private investors.

Government is still regarded as the major contributor even though it is obvious that our resource envelope is fast depleting.

Regarding adaptation by farmers to climate change mitigation, we have started implementing programmes – though uptake is slow - which use minimum tillage to conserve soil and moisture, and we have established that if properly implemented the results are encouraging. Under severe drought conditions soil moisture conservation still remains a big challenge. This compels us to recommend planting of drought resistant, short-season or early maturing crop varieties to address food security at household level.

On the other hand we can experience abnormally heavy rains such it was case for the 2010/11 summer cropping season which was characterized by torrential rains that hampered crop farming, and also affected the 2011 winter cropping programme due to water logging. Unfortunately the 2011/2012 summer cropping season commenced with a serious dry spell also hampering summer cropping. This situation undoubtedly has and will continue to affect our food and nutrition security.

Excellencies,

We are aware of the IFAD’s initiative called “Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP)”.

The goal, development objectives and outcome of this programme are relevant to enhance and achieve sustainable smallholder agriculture within the context of climate change. We will explore how we can benefit from this through existing and newly signed programme with the Fund.

Chairperson and Excellencies,

We further echo the resolutions of the 4th Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Summit during 19 – 20 January 2012 where Ministers exchanged knowledge and experience on global food security and the alleviation of poverty, focusing on farming with limited resources and sustainable growth. Their discourse included the need to empower small-scale farmers to access resources and encourage public and private investment in agriculture to generate and maintain sustainable growth in agriculture. I believe the Berlin ideas will be further concretised at the June 2012 Rio+20 United Nations Conference. I take note of the “Rome-based Organisations Submission to Rio+20 Outcome Document” and commend them for their commitment to work together while supporting us to build a more sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Chairperson,

We thank IFAD for their continued support - since the 1980’s to date - to enhance our agriculture and reduce poverty levels and food insecurity through projects. We further, thank IFAD for its support to the Lesotho National Farmers Union (LENAFU) under the leadership of the Southern African Confederation of Farmers Union (SACAU).

LENAFU is still young and need all the support it can get from the government and development partners for its sustainability. We re-affirm our commitment to the recently signed Small-holder Agriculture Development Programme (SADP) co-financed by both IFAD and the World Bank. We commit to integrate the lessons learnt during implementation of the now ending Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Programme (SANReMP) to enhance our performance.

In reference to some issues on the agenda, I want to commend IFAD management on the implementation of the Performance-Based Allocation System. Though as a Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security we are not directly responsible for the achievements of some of the rural sector performance (RSP) indicators. We hope to perform better in future because we do need IFAD assistance for future programmes. I note the work regarding the consultations on the 9th Replenishment of IFAD’s resources and commit to continue financially contributing to the Fund.

Excellencies,

In conclusion,

I wish to extent our sincere condolences and prayers to all the Nations which experienced severe weather conditions and disaster in 2011, which unfortunately destroyed both human and animal life, as well the essential infrastructure. To IFAD and its sister UN agencies, I express our heartfelt appreciation for your continued support.

I thank you.

Rome 23 February 2012