On the 2nd July 2020, the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Lesotho, Dr Moeketsi Majoro officially opened the Qholaqhoe Shearing shed – one of twenty-two sheds built across the country. Lesotho has a network of almost 150 shearing sheds strewn across the length and breadth of the country. This is not surprising: wool and mohair production forms the bedrock of the country’s rural economy. The Wool and Mohair Promotion Project (WAMPP) is working to modernise the sub-sector. Apart from construction of new sheds and rehabilitation of forty-three existing ones, the project is also delivering capacity-building activities: introduction of electronic record-keeping through procurement of Information technology equipment and training of recorders, training of shearers and classers; procurement of equipment, including electric shears, scales and baling presses and other interventions.
Speaking at the event, Dr Majoro said: “Through WAMPP, we will not only improve the quality and quantity of fibre produced; we are also make shearing sheds more accessible through construction of feeder roads. In this way, we will improve the lives of Basotho at the very core of our communities.”
Infrastructural development put in place under WAMPP, includes: water connection to, not only shearing sheds, but also to neighbouring communities (e.g in Fobane, Leribe); electrification of sheds through connection to the grid and also photo-voltaic sources; construction of slaughter-slabs in Botha-Bothe and Quthing, to name some.
WAMPP is expected to reach about 50,000 farmers through various interventions that range from: range rehabilitation, improvement of goat/sheep husbandry to entrepreneurial development. It is a 7- year project that will conclude in June 2022.
