Lesotho Farmers in Limbo as U.S. Ends Poultry Initiative

A $31.4 million project by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), aimed at overhauling Lesotho’s poultry industry, has been discontinued. The five-year initiative, part of the American Food for Progress programme, was intended to establish 28,000 poultry businesses and increase meat production by 40% and egg production by 30% by 2028.

But less than two years after its launch, the Sustainable Transformation of Enterprises in the Poultry Sector (STEPS) project has been halted, leaving thousands of farmers uncertain about their future.