Funding cuts by the Trump administration in the United States have resulted in the closure of a US-funded chicken project in Lesotho.
The five-year R500-million project aimed to boost chicken farming in Lesotho and lessen its reliance on chicken imports, according to a GroundUp article. Funding for the project was halted by the US Department of Agriculture, the report said.
“The Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS) project, launched in 2023, aimed to grow 28,000 poultry enterprises in Lesotho and boost meat production by 40% and egg production by 30% by 2028.”
The project was also designed to reduce Lesotho’s heavy dependence on imported poultry products by empowering local farmers through access to quality inputs, financial training, and market linkages. The broader aim was to improve food security and increase incomes along the value chain.
A US company, Land O’Lakes, was the programme implementer and responsible for the projects work on national-level commercial farming. The local project partner, Rural Self-Help, focused on grassroots farmers.
Beyond confirming that Land O’Lakes had been told to suspend the project, the company would not comment to GroundUp. Mampho Thulo, managing director of Rural Self-Help, said the sudden halt had left thousands of poultry farmers in limbo.
Her organisation had been working with farmers ranging from subsistence farmers to those keeping 500 chickens.
“The plan was to support 23,000 to 28,000 businesses by 2028,” she added.
