The Government of Lesotho announced last week it will subsidize the price of maize meal, beans and pulses, reducing the retail prices for consumers by 30 percent for a period of one year, starting from 1 June 2016. The Government has allocated over 1 million rand for the subsidies, with the aim to ease access to basic food commodities. In Maseru, prices of domestically-produced maize meal rose by 17 percent between February and March and were nearly 40 percent higher than a year earlier. These increases are mainly the result of high maize prices in South Africa, which supplies the bulk of the country’s consumption requirements. Poor production prospects for 2016 cereal crops due to El Niño associated dry condition,which prompted the Government to declare a state of emergency in December, also provided upward pressure.