Executive summary achieved some measure of self-reliance in terms of maintaining relatively low rates of public expenditure, of maintaining a small percentage of external financing of total government spending, and of gaining from remittances from Basotho workers in South Africa, from SACU revenues and from FDI flows. However, there are critical areas where progress was seen as fairly limited. Food insecurity, for example, is chronic and the country currently imports about 70 per cent of its food needs. The economy is not diversified, even with the recent growth in the manufacturing sector. The agricultural sector, itself heavily characterised by low-productivity smallholder cultivation, is suffering from heavy soil degradation. The recent policy of developing block farming may help bring about a breakthrough in food production and may encourage the development of agro-industries. Economic diversification would also require the utilisation of areas where Lesotho has natural comparative advantage, such as tourism and water. 12 4.46 The government’s commitment to achieving development goals is incorporated in the constitution, Vision 2020, the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and other sectoral strategies and programmes. The government has also signed and ratified all the codes and standards within the APRM framework for socioeconomic development. However, compliance with several of the standards and codes is mixed. Nonetheless, there are visible achievements in the promotion of social welfare, which include, among other successes, the establishment of the old age pension for senior citizens who are 75 years or older. The initiative is historically the second of its type in sub-Saharan Africa. 4.47 Widespread poverty and high income inequality in the country suggest that a large segment of society cannot achieve individual or collective self-reliance. About 56.6 per cent of the population is classified as poor. Poverty is widespread in rural as well as urban centres and is compounded by high unemployment rates, which have been amplified by the extensive retrenchments of Basotho mine workers in South Africa. There seems to be no reliable mechanism in place to absorb these returnees productively. However, the government has a few initiatives in place to train the youth and the disabled in particular to help them establish their own businesses by improving their skills in basic areas. All these efforts notwithstanding, the nexus of low productivity, poverty and unemployment could be effectively addressed only through the diversification, modernisation and engendering of a drastic transformation of the economy of Lesotho. 4.48 Lesotho has made some efforts to achieve the MDG targets and objectives. There have been notable successes. Significant progress has been made in terms of universal education (primary completion rates, etc.), gender equality and environmental sustainability. However, the country is seriously lagging behind in terms of indicators pertaining to poverty, child mortality and tuberculosis (TB). The HIV and AIDS pandemic constitutes the most important and devastating constraint on the country’s development and its future. Lesotho recorded the third-highest HIV and AIDS prevalence rate, ranging between 28.9 per cent and 31.7 per cent, coming after Botswana and Swaziland. HIV and AIDS is disproportionately concentrated in urban areas. The government’s response through a National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan has been effective and is widely acknowledged by stakeholders. The health indicators are also worrisome, particularly in the areas of under-5 mortality and maternal mortality. 4.49 There have been laudable successes in the areas of primary education, but far less so at the preschool, secondary and tertiary levels. Total net enrolment rates for the primary education level