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The Essential: From Our Own Correspondent: Lesotho's 'Green Drought'

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From Our Own Correspondent: Lesotho's 'Green Drought'

30/06/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - The Essential, From Our Own Correspondent: Lesotho's 'Green Drought'

Starving in slow motion as southeast Africa's crops shrivel

Garry Owen reports from rural Lesotho on a slow-motion catastrophe as crops shrivel and die across southeastern Africa

A serious drought is affecting farmers and herders across southeastern Africa - and it spells disaster for many people in Lesotho, one of the world's most rural and agricultural societies. Garry Owen reports from the Mafetang region on what he saw - and, crucially, didn't see - amid the breathtaking landscape. For many people here, the cupboard is bare, the orchards are empty, and their crops for next year have already shrivelled and died.

Photo: Despite recent, erratic rains which have greened the hillsides with grass, many maize fields in Lesotho are now withered and will produce no food for next year. (c) BBC - Garry Owen

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