Rural development policies and programmes under colonialism and during the five year development plans in Lesotho

摘要

Poverty has been said to be very high in developing countries, and many people live below the poverty line. There are different causes of poverty, but the most common one is food insecurity. Therefore, the contribution of agriculture to ensuring food security in the poor countries cannot be ignored. Although many farmers in some developing countries practise subsistence farming, agriculture accounts for a large share to the means of livelihood in the rural areas of developing countries. This is because about 80% of people in developing countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for livelihood. Despite the large contribution of agriculture to rural development in developing countries, the sector (agriculture) is confronted with many different challenges. There is low agricultural productivity (especially in peasant farming) because of the use of traditional technologies, and other factors. And this results in food insecurity in many households. However, countries implement different programmes and policies to increase productivity in agriculture. It is in this respect, this paper looks at the different policies, methods and programmes implemented by the Lesotho government to increase agricultural productivity/production since the period of colonialism.