To provide policymakers, government, and other stakeholders with information for decision-making and development programming, the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) has conducted a vulnerability assessment analysing food and nutrition security and vulnerability in Lesotho for the 2025/2026 consumption year.
With a population of 2,077 million people, a life expectancy of 61.6 years and a poverty rate of 49.7 percent, the DMA’s report presents Lesotho’s socioeconomic context, which is clouded by a few challenges.
According to the report, the unemployment rate stands at 30.1 percent, with an inflation rate of 6.3 percent. This has raised the cost of living and the survival minimum expenditure basket from M1220.00 to M1320.00 per month for four people in 2025.
Other socioeconomic shocks presented in the report include loss of formal employment and price hikes that have significantly reduced total household incomes, further weakening their already fragile purchasing power.
These price hikes have affected at least 34 percent of households, making it difficult for them to afford both food and non-food essential needs.
It had been found that most households spend most of their income on food, indicating an economic crisis.
However, the persistently high food prices, as compared to the previous year, have significantly undermined the purchasing power of households, making it increasingly difficult for them to even afford essential food and non-food items.
Most households reported that one of the shocks that negatively impacted their purchasing power was the loss of employment as a result of the US administration, which led to the closure of factories and projects earlier this year.
The report continues to show that the overall inflation trend from February to May 2025 has been slightly increasing from 3.7 percent to 4.4 percent; however, it remains lower than the same period in 2024.
Food inflation has exhibited a notable increase, rising from 5.6 percent in January to 6.3 per cent in May 2025, but it is said to be below the 10.4 percent that was recorded in May 2024.
In an effort to assess livelihoods from different regional zones with the aim of identifying improvements or deteriorations in livelihoods strategies, the authority found that the main source of livelihoods for most households was casual labour, remittances, old age pensions and crop sales.
For other people, brewing was found to be the main source.
The dry spells that were experienced this year resulted in a decline in agricultural labour opportunities. However, these opportunities are expected to increase slightly in the future while household food sources and expenditure patterns are anticipated to remain unchanged.
Overall, the report said livelihood sources have not shifted compared to the previous year (2024), indicating no significant difference in household income-generating activities.
More than half of urban households across most districts reported a total income of M1,700.00 or more. This level of income is slightly above the survival minimum basket and it enables households to meet their survival minimum essential basket.
