APPSA Lesotho Demonstrates Significant Progress on Infrastructure Development During the World Bank ISM

The Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA) hosted a World Bank Implementation Support Mission (ISM) from the 13th to 16th of November 2023 in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. APPSA-Lesotho demonstrated significant progress, particularly on infrastructure development since the last ISM that was conducted in June 2023.

APPSA is a six-year World Bank funded initiative currently being implemented by the Republic of Angola and Kingdom of Lesotho and regionally overseen by the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA). Under this programme, Angola is establishing a Regional Centre of Leadership (RCoL) on Cassava and Cassava-based farming systems whereas Lesotho is focusing on Horticulture and Horticulture-based farming systems.

Infrastructure is acknowledged as being pivotal for the successful implementation of research initiatives at country and regional levels including the full operationalization of RCoLs. Hence, this ISM granted special attention to the assessment of the status of investments on infrastructure.

The ISM in Lesotho started with a courtesy call on the Acting Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition, Mrs Marelenko Molefi, who welcomed the World Bank and CCARDESA delegation and highlighted the relevance of APPSA in strengthening the country’s research capacity and ensuring national and household food security. Day 1 was dedicated to presentations and discussions on progress made since the last ISM under technology generation and dissemination, human capacity development, infrastructure development, monitoring and evaluation, procurement and finance. Day 2 and Day 3 were dedicated to site visits to appreciate ongoing construction works and on-farm trials. Sites that were visited include Mahobong Research Station in Leribe district, Machache Research sub-station, Nyakosoba Research Station, and Maseru Main station. At the main station, APPSA is supporting the construction of conference facility, laboratories, new DAR offices and a 1.2km access road.

In the wrap up session that was held on the last day, a number of key action points were discussed and agreed. The overall perception is that a lot has been accomplished by Lesotho since the previous mission, mainly on infrastructure. It is worth noting that all research construction works under APPSA in Lesotho are currently above 60% completion rate.