Lesotho: Feeling the Pinch of Soaring Food Prices

Urban families in Lesotho, a small landlocked southern African country, are struggling to cope with rising food prices, according to a recent survey.

Practically every household interviewed in a vulnerability assessment reported being affected by escalating food costs; more than half of urban households admitted borrowing food to get by, and more than 40 percent said they had been forced to cut down on meals.

People living with HIV, pensioners and Basotho living off remittances and grants on the outskirts of urban centres were the worst affected, the Lesotho Urban Vulnerability Assessment Survey discovered.