External Labour Migration, HIV/AIDS And Poverty: Challenges To Development InLesoth

This paper uses secondary data to provide evidence of dwindling remittances from externalmigration in Lesotho and their effect on the poverty situation in an environment of increasingHIV/AIDS infection rates. It then argues that while external migration, through its adverseeffect on agricultural production, contributed to the spread of poverty, it has also helped inpoverty alleviation through the remittances of migrants. However, some developments duringthe recent past could worsen the poverty situation in Lesotho. These include the retrenchmentof mine workers and dwindling opportunities for migration to the Republic of South Africa(RSA) and the effect of the worsening HIV/AIDS situation on the size of the productivelabour force and on labour productivity. To reduce poverty in this environment of dwindlingopportunities for external migration and increasing HIV/AIDS infection rates, it is suggestedthat government-sponsored education and training for productive self-employment wouldhelp more Basotho, including returned migrant workers, to contribute to GDP