Moving mountains

Lesotho, located in central South Africa, lies nestled in the exquisite Maluti Mountains, which form part of the southern Drakensberg mountain range.

It is the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres; due to its high altitude, it is often referred to as ‘the kingdom in the sky’. 

Leribe is a green but bustling district, with its administrative centre standing on the banks of the Hlotse River close to the South African border on the northeast.

The area is made up of many small villages, most of which are inaccessible by car and nestled high up in the mountains without electricity or municipal water.  

For Mrs. ‘Mampho Thulo, these mountains are her home.

High altitude agents of change

 Mrs. Thulo is the Director of the Rural Self-help Development Association (RSDA) in Lesotho.

RSDA’s mission is to support smallholder farmers on sustainable farming and ecological agricultural practices with an emphasis on the economic, social and cultural dimensions of the community.

As farmers, market sellers, businesspeople, artisans, entrepreneurs and community leaders, mountain women and girls – particularly in rural areas - have the potential to be major agents of change.

When women like Mrs. Thulo have access to resources, services and opportunities, they become a driving force against hunger, malnutrition and rural poverty, and can be active in the development of mountain economies.

Over the last two years, Mrs. Thulo and RSDA have been working with the Leribe Farmers Forum and the Majantja Temong Farmers Association on projects as a partnership between the GEF Small Grants Programme implemented by UNDP and the Mountain Partnership.

Enhancing mountain resilience

Since 2020, the Small Grants Programme, the Mountain Partnership, and Slow Food International have been working together to address some of these challenges through an initiative titled ‘Enhancing agri-food value chains to increase resilience of mountain communities’.

The initiative leverages the efforts of all partners with the common goal of increasing the resilience of mountain communities through the improvement of local mountain economies. 

This initiative is being implemented in Guatemala, Lesotho, Nepal and Rwanda, and aims at strengthening the value chains of high-value mountain products, coupled with building capacity for farmers and producer organizations to promote sustainable mountain products.

To date, capacity building activities such as agrobiodiversity mapping, value chain improvement, and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) have been conducted with 12 producer communities, representing 1,041 farmers, of whom 657 are women.

Mountain agri-products promoted through this initiative include coffee, honey, tea, mushrooms, sorghum, barley and rosehip berries, among others.

The story of food: a millennia-old relationship with the mountains

In 2016, the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS), in collaboration with Slow Food International, launched the Mountain Partnership Products (MPP) initiative: a participatory certification and labelling scheme based on environmentally and ethically sound value chain approaches.

The initiative promotes short, domestic value chains while ensuring transparency and trust between producers and consumers, fair compensation for primary producers, and preservation of traditional techniques.

In Lesotho, all three selected producer groups received training aimed at providing knowledge and tools needed to boost the sustainability of their production practices, improving the marketability of their products, and on the importance of preserving and enhancing agricultural biodiversity in fragile mountain ecosystems.

Furthermore, communities received capacity building that was tailored to their specific value chain with a focus on quality products and retaining traditional cultural practices.

Three communities have submitted MPP Narrative Label applications for the following products: sorghum (Majantja Farmers Association), beans (Leribe Farmers Forum), and fermented milk products (Rural Self-Help Development Association).

 The MPP Narrative Label tells the story of each product, enabling consumers to make informed purchases by learning about products' origins, processing, nutritional value, and role in local cultures.

Producers also joined Slow Food networks such as the Slow Food Chef Alliance and the Indigenous Terra Madre Network. 

Celebrating Sorghum

In Lesotho, the planting, harvesting and processing of sorghum is rooted deep in cultural and traditional practices. For these mountain communities, sorghum is imperative for the celebration and preservation of local indigenous Basotho cuisine.

Sorghum is a nutrient-packed ancient grain that is naturally gluten free and drought resistant, and is a staple crop in Basotho culture.

It is used to make many traditional dishes including bread, porridge, stews and sorghum beer, all of which are consumed at events and ceremonies as a symbol of reverence and gratitude.

In Lesotho, the cultural practices of growing and harvesting sorghum contribute to the quality, taste and flavour of the products.

Traditional, chemical-free and manual methods for preparing the soil, sowing the seeds and harvesting have been passed down for many generations. 

In celebration of this rich history, a traditional Sorghum Harvest Ceremony was organized by the Majantja Temong Farmers Association, Slow Food, supported by RSDA and SGP.

The ceremony was held at Ha Khoai village, Mohale’s Hoek. This event commemorated the beginning of the sorghum harvest season, and aimed to re-ignite people’s interest in practicing the culture of letsema - a traditional practice of the community voluntarily working together for one common purpose.

The Majantja Temong Farmers Association is an umbrella association of farmers’ groups in the Senqu River Valley in the Mohale’s Hoek district of Lesotho, and they are among the largest producers of sorghum in Lesotho.

Their primary focus includes providing capacity-building and support to farmers, preservation of indigenous seeds, and promoting art, culture, health and well-being.

From seed to table

Based on successes to date, in 2022 SGP and the Mountain Partnership announced an expansion of the collaboration and partnership to cover another phase, which will include eight to ten countries.

The purpose of this expanded phase is to promote innovative entrepreneurship, improve the resilience of local economies and the livelihoods of mountain and island communities.

It will be structured as a Business Incubation and Acceleration programme targeting value chains that represents bio-cultural heritage of the communities and generates positive benefits for mountain and island ecosystems.

 Regeneration

The world faces a multidimensional planetary emergency of nature loss, climate change, poverty, and inequality.

We need to rethink and radically transform our relationship with nature- for people and for planet.

The post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will work to put nature at the heart of sustainable development, and COP15 will provide the impetus and ambition needed for this transformation.

We can look to the mountains for inspiration.

COP15 is our moment to turn rhetoric into action.

30 years of action

For the past thirty years, SGP has been providing financial and technical support to civil society and community-based organizations on innovative community-driven initiatives that address global environmental issues while improving local livelihoods.

This year marks the programme’s 30th anniversary: since its inception in 1992, SGP has delivered over US$720 million to >27,000 community-based projects, changing countless lives in 136 countries.

Since 2008, the Small Grants Program has supported more than 107 projects in Lesotho

For more information on SGP-supported projects in Lesotho, visit the SGP Lesotho Country Page.

Visit the SGP website for details on the Small Grants Programme.