Qacha's Nek_Following the relaunch of grains purchasing, the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) Disaster Manager, Mrs.'Mats'itso Motemekoane foresees an unmet target.

The two weeks programme was relaunched last week and it is expected to end on Friday this week.

Speaking to the LENA, she revealed that Melele are expected to sell 50kg bags; 1000 of maize, 900 wheat and 233 beans.

"We will not even manage to get half of those grains despite our call for Melele. The bottom line is, they no longer have what we are looking for because of initiation school, other than that, harvesting was poor this year," she said.

On the other hand, Food Management Unit (FMU) Warehouse Assistant, Mrs. 'Marethabile Hoodi said they only managed to buy 22 bags of beans from one farmer.

She however said two more farmers from Tebellong said they could not come due to overflowing Senqu.

Hloahloeng, Ha Phafoli farmer, 'Masekake Mokhalimetso said she is happy that she managed to sell 22 bags of beans.

"I wish this initiative could be done yearly as it helps us a lot," she said.

This programme was launched around mid-July and ran for two weeks from 19 to August 04 and the district failed to meet maize buying target as only 11 of the 75 tonnes were bought.

The district however met the beans target forcing other farmers to return home with their beans.

The target for maize purchasing then was 75 tonnes, which is equivalent to 75 000 kg while beans was 15 tonnes which is equivalent to 15 000kg.

The relaunch comes after a Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) exercise recommended grains purchasing from the quantities of 50 kilograms which a unit price is expected to be M275.00 for maize and wheat while beans prices will differ based on the varieties and will cost at M1500.00 to M1200.00 as per 50 Kilograms.

The district data collection revealed that crop harvesting was bad leading to food insecurity.

Recently, the Agency has learnt that over 5000 people are food insecure in the district.

Of these, over 2000 are from urban areas while over 3000 are in rural areas and they are in need of humanitarian support.

According to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 2023, about 245,000 people in Lesotho (16 percent) faced high levels of food insecurity between July and August.

This number is expected to rise to about 325,000 (about 22 percent of the population) between September and March 2024.

The report further revealed that five of Lesotho’s 10 districts are in IPC Phase 2 (stressed) and the other five districts are in IPC Phase 3 (crisis).