The agriculture minister told farmers that Lesotho’s wool and mohair are free of foot-and-mouth disease and that a certificate allowing exports is expected within days, as growers pressed for local testing labs and a dedicated farming fund.
WOOL and mohair from Lesotho are free of foot-and-mouth disease, and a certificate allowing exports to resume is expected within days, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Selibe Mochoboroane, has told farmers.
Mochoboroane was responding to farmers’ concerns at the Leadership and Accountability Summit. Lesotho declared a state of disaster in March after foot-and-mouth disease was found in the highlands of Qacha’s Nek and Butha-Buthe in February. The government quarantined affected areas, banned livestock markets and animal movement without veterinary approval, and culled animals in some areas.
The outbreak put the country’s leading agricultural export at risk. After the disaster was declared, China and South Africa required Lesotho to prove its wool and mohair were free of the disease before they would take the product. Mochoboroane said Lesotho had provided that proof and a protocol had been signed. The wool and mohair already at the Port Elizabeth auction floor, and the clip harvested since, were free of the disease, he said.
He said a certificate permitting the movement of wool and mohair to export markets was expected before the end of the week.
| Wool and mohair | Figure |
| Share of agricultural exports | About 60 percent |
| World mohair ranking | Second, after South Africa |
| Annual value | About M900 million (US$55 million) |
| National flock | About 2 million sheep |
| Rural population supported | More than a quarter |
| Main auction markets | Port Elizabeth and Durban |
Sources: Minister of Agriculture and Food Security; International Trade Centre.
Wool and mohair are the main source of cash income in the highlands and foothills, where sheep and Angora goats have been kept since the 1800s. The two fibres account for about 60 percent of Lesotho’s agricultural exports, and the country is the world’s second-largest mohair producer after South Africa. Mochoboroane said the industry brings in about M900 million (about US$55 million) a year from a national flock of some two million sheep.
He urged farmers to raise more sheep and goats, and said processing the fibre before export would earn the country more than selling it raw.
Farmers used the summit to press for change. A farmer from Quthing, Teboho Nkau, asked when the government would overhaul how the wool and mohair trade is run, and when it would upgrade the Tele Bridge border post used to move the fibre to market. Another farmer asked when Lesotho would build its own laboratories to test wool and mohair, rather than depend on facilities abroad.
Farmers also raised the yearly delay in seeds and fertilisers. Mochoboroane said supplies would arrive earlier this year and that the government wanted fertiliser sold at a uniform price.
“We are working towards availing seeds and fertilisers by the 1st August 2026.”
Selibe Mochoboroane, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security
There were also calls for a dedicated farming fund. Tsikoane Peshoane said the Public Financial Management Act allows the finance minister to set up funds, as was done for roads and petroleum, and proposed an agricultural development fund to regulate the sector. Mochoboroane agreed that the country needs an agricultural fund.
Once issued, the certificate would clear the harvested clip to move to the Port Elizabeth and Durban auction floors, where Lesotho’s wool and mohair are sold.
