. . . 100 animals die in Mokhotlong in one week
. . . poor infrastructure worsens situation
. . . as government is urged to intervene
Persistent livestock deaths during winter are exposing a gap in Lesotho’s disaster preparedness, with farmers receiving weather warnings but lacking the infrastructure and financial protection needed to act on them.
For subsistence farmers whose sheep, goats and cattle are often their main source of income, each death can mean less money for food, education and other basic needs.
In Mokhotlong, farmer Realeboha Nthoana of Ha Monothotsa lost 27 sheep during heavy snowfall last week.
Nthoana said the animals died on Monday and Tuesday after being caught in severe weather at a cattle post near his home. He said he had not known that heavy snowfall was coming.
“I have had these animals since 2010, and there has always been snowfall every year, but this year’s snowfall was bad and heavy,” he recounted in an interview with theReporter this week.
For Nthoana, the loss goes beyond livestock. The animals provided income and helped him support his children’s schooling.
However, district agricultural officials say the problem is not necessarily a failure to issue warnings.
Mokhotlong District Animal Production Officer, Bokang Lebatama said information about approaching snowfall is communicated to communities.
“If one farmer says they did not know about the approaching snow, this should not be taken to mean that the information never reached them,” Lebatama said.
The bigger challenge, he pointed out, is that many farmers have nowhere safe to move their livestock once warnings are issued.
He said most animals are kept at remote mountain grazing posts, where shelters are often little more than open enclosures. Farmers may close entrances with branches or wooden poles, but there are no roofs to protect the animals from heavy snow.
“When it snows, the animals will be affected,” Lebatama said.
He explained that the problem is compounded by lack of stored livestock feed adding that animals depend largely on mountain rangelands, which can become inaccessible under snow. Some become too weak from hunger to continue grazing.
“We are slowly trying to introduce the concept of preserving and storing feed to farmers,” Lebatama indicated, estimating that more than 100 livestock had died in Mokhotlong last week.
The same pattern was reported in Qacha’s Nek.
District Animal Production Officer, Mohapi Litŝoane said his office had received reports of deaths involving 89 sheep, 23 goats and four cattle, during the same period.
Litŝoane noted that farmers face serious difficulties protecting their animals because some grazing areas have no caves or other suitable shelters where livestock can be moved when snowfall is forecast.
In some areas, animals have been trapped inside their own enclosures by snow because the structures have no roofs.
Yet, Litŝoane said, the situation had also shown signs of improvement.
“Even though this year, in this district, we received reports of livestock deaths, the numbers have decreased. I can say that the farmers understood how to protect their animals,” he added.
Insurance is another potential bumper, but it remains underused. Litŝoane said farmers know livestock can be insured, but traditional practices and norms mean many do not see it as necessary.
Lesotho has begun strengthening its anticipatory-action system. A Cold Wave Anticipatory Action Plan was introduced in Mokhotlong in 2025 as a five-year pilot intended to reduce the impact of severe cold before it strikes. The programme involves the Lesotho Red Cross Society, the Disaster Management Authority and the Lesotho Meteorology Services.
Authorities have also conducted community sensitisation on cold-wave preparedness. However, the latest losses suggest that preparedness at community level remains constrained by the realities of highland livestock farming.
The problem has become particularly visible again this winter. In August, about 24 pregnant ewes reportedly died at Hohobeng in the Makhoaba area of Mokhotlong after becoming trapped in snow and then attacked by dogs.
For farmers, these are not simply agricultural losses. They are losses of productive assets.
Agricultural economist Montoeli Rantlo of the National University of Lesotho said livestock are the major source of income for many smallholder farmers.
“If either one or two die, it means their income decreases, because even when they go to the wool shed, they go with a flock size that is small in number,” he said.
Rantlo added that a smaller flock means less wool and mohair income, leaving households with fewer resources to meet basic needs.
Chairperson of Lesotho National Wool and Mohair Growers Association, Mokoinihi Thinyane said the organisation had on numerous occasion called on government to assist people who lose livestock due to natural disasters including snow.
“We have given out lists of affected farmers in the past, but government has not assisted. It was just a waste of time,” he said.
On his part,Lesotho National Farmers Union programme manager, Khotso Lepheana told this publication that there is no national livestock-disaster response plan.
Lepheana also noted that Lesotho does not have a compensation policy and this compounds farmers’ woes in times of natural disasters.
“In as much as they may be some insurance services offered by some companies, many farmers are not keen to take up insurance in the agriculture sector,” he said, adding that the union plans to push government to introduce a compensation policy.
