Prospects and challenges of Matekane Group of Companies in transforming rural livelihoods at Mantšonyane, Lesotho

Attempts since independence in 1966 to transform the rural sector in Lesotho have failed to achieve the intended outcomes and most rural development projects have since collapsed. This research was conducted with smallholder farmers who were members of the Leronti Farmers’ Association in Mantšonyane, Lesotho to investigate the contribution of the corporate sector to community engagement for rural transformation, a domain that has largely been ignored in rural studies in Lesotho. The qualitative data revealed that the Matekane Group of Companies, using many projects, had the potential to engage the community of Mantšonyane to transform the rural sector as it was able to increase agricultural production, revived the spirit of care for the community and environment, enhanced the rural-urban migration and multiple livelihood strategies. However, the findings showed that the Matekane Group of Companies faced some challenges in changing the rural community as the projects were too few, used complex and expensive technologies and communities lacked skills to effectively engage in transformation. The implications of the study were that more projects targeted to rural transformation be implemented, all stakeholders in rural transformation work together, complex technologies be complimented with cheaper and lesser complex technologies and farmers' education be intensified for effective dissemination of information to enhance rural transformation. Key words: Community engagement, Lesotho, Mantšonyane, rural tranformation