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Background Food insecurity and malnutrition are persistent challenges worldwide and Lesotho is not an exception. Hunger and poverty have worsened with the dawn of COVID-19 pandemic and on-going Russia–Ukraine war. The study seeks to assess food security and associated socio-economic factors among farming households in Lesotho. Household food security has been assessed using Household Food Access Scale (HFIAS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS). Questionnaires were employed to collect data from 236 farming households. Results The HFIAS results show that 40% of the farming households were food secure, 18% were mildly food insecure, 32% were moderately food insecure and 10% were severely food secure and severe food insecurity mostly experienced in the highlands. HDDS results indicated that the farming households had consumed 8 to 12 food groups 7 days prior to data collection, the mean HDDS is 9.68. Households that are involved in commercial farming had more (9.98) diverse diets than those in subsistence farming (8.67). Households in the highlands have the lowest diet diversity (9.0) among the four agro-ecological zones. A logistic regression analysis indicated that the socio-economic factors associated with food security were household income, household size, marital status and education status of the respondent. Conclusions The findings depict that over half (60%) of the farming households experience varied degrees of food insecurity. Contrary to this, the farming households had consumed highly varied diets in the past 7 days. The socio-economic factors that influence the attainment of food security household food security were household size, household income, education and marital status. The findings suggest that agricultural development interventions must be more sensitive to household food security and nutrition, which includes training farmers on nutrition and food security issues. Furthermore, socio-economic factors must be considered in the development of interventions, since they influence the food security of the farming households.

Malnutrition is one of the biggest threats to the global community. At household level, women and children are among the most vulnerable groups. It is expected that farming households will have better food security, owing to food production and income generation from selling agricultural produce. This paper sought to assess the dietary diversity and the associated factors thereof on women and children in farming households in Lesotho. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify the determinants of the dietary diversity scores. The results showed that only 20.6% of the women of reproductive age consumed a minimum of five food groups or more, with a mean dietary diversity score of 5.63. The majority (78%) of under-five children had low dietary diversity (mean = 2.12), as they consumed less that 4 food groups. The regression analysis indicated that women's age group, household size, household monthly income and being a beneficiary of an agricultural program were associated with women's dietary diversity. On the other hand, the determinants identified for children's dietary diversity were education status, gender and marital status of the caretaker. Interventions that aim to improve women and children's diet quality are still much needed as levels of dietary diversity are not satisfactory. The determinants must also be further explored and considered in development planning. A nutrition-sensitive approach to agricultural programs is important as it capacitates farming households on both agricultural production and nutrition that are needed. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture maximises the contribution of agriculture to yield nutrition outcomes.