Status of Agricultural Mechanization in Lesotho

Lesotho is a mountainous high altitude Southern African country, landlocked within the Republic of South Africa. It has a total land area of 30,355 km(2). Agriculture is the main source of employment to rural people. Agricultural mechanization is dominated by animal draught power. The status of agricultural mechanization in Lesotho was determined by, firstly, carrying out an inventory of farm machinery and equipment using secondary data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS), and secondly, by matching farm power and implements with available arable land to be effectively and efficiently operated in a timely manner. The results showed that the country has a shortfall of tractors and tractor drawn implements for summer agronomic operations. There are sufficient numbers of tractors and tractor drawn implements for winter operations, primarily for winter wheat. In the case of animal draught, the available power is adequate for timely field operations for both summer and winter. The limitation is, however, on the numbers of animal drawn implements, as they cannot cover available summer agronomic operations within the desirable optimal window.