Lesotho Should Invest in Digital Agriculture for Climate-Smart Farming

By Matsilo Nkabane

Agriculture is the cornerstone of Lesotho’s small economy, contributing to better livelihoods and food security. In recent years, global economies have faced recession due to the impacts of the novel COVID-19 pandemic and worsening climate change challenges.

Lesotho is not exempted from these socio-economic issues, which contribute to poverty and hunger, leaving vulnerable groups such as youth, women, and children deeply affected.

According to the National Strategic Development Plan, the government of Lesotho aims to reverse the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation by formulating policies and frameworks that address these challenges.

Adopting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) in Lesotho is one of the best ways to respond to and mitigate the harsh effects of climate change. CSA encompasses productivity, adaptation/resilience, and mitigation, leading to food security and sustainable development. In short, climate-smart agriculture = Sustainable agriculture + Resilience – Emissions. Unlike in the past, when farmers in Lesotho would predict seasons through indigenous knowledge, climate change has gradually shifted these paradigms. Furthermore, both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the digital divide in technology. The majority of the population in Lesotho still lacks basic services such as electricity and faces high data costs.

Combining climate-smart agriculture with ICT/digital technologies can positively impact farmers, making farming more sustainable and efficient in Lesotho. CSA can help smallholders increase productivity and resilience to climate change while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, implementing CSA can be challenging in many African countries, including Lesotho, which faces significant human development challenges such as a lack of infrastructure, a digital divide, and environmental vulnerabilities like land degradation, soil erosion, and water scarcity.

Lesotho needs to unlock the economic potential of CSA, which will create employment opportunities, enhance food security, improve rural livelihoods, and conserve biodiversity while promoting sustainable development by eradicating hunger and poverty.

In today’s world of digital technologies, social media has proven to be one of the fastest and most effective ways to disseminate information and impart knowledge to the farming community. Therefore, it is important for farmers to harness digital technologies for effective communication of messages and ideas related to climate-smart agriculture. More effort is needed to develop robust educational awareness and training programmes and to build capacity for integrating technology in agriculture to mitigate climate change impacts across the country, especially for small-scale farmers and other relevant stakeholders. Training farmers to adopt ICT technologies such as smartphones and drones will not only mitigate the adverse effects of climate change but will also increase agricultural output.

The government of Lesotho should engage with relevant stakeholders in both the private and public sectors, civil society, and farmers while promoting CSA for sustainability. Mass media plays a crucial role in agriculture by disseminating information to farmers. Information can be easily spread to isolated areas through print media, radio, and television, providing necessary details related to farming, fertilizers, soil fertility, pests, and diseases.

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