Australia’s longest running agricultural aid project in Timor-Leste comes to an end

The TimorAg2016 Conference was held in Timor-Leste in April 2016 and was a great celebration of the conclusion of the 16-year Seeds of Life (SoL) project.

The theme for the conference was ‘food security in Timor-Leste through crop production’ and discussions were held around factors affecting crop production in Timor-Leste and the success technical advances have made to improving productivity. Two days of oral papers and posters were delivered across a number of sessions focusing on food security, elements for agricultural development in Timor-Leste, crops and their environments, reaching a food surplus, and communication of agricultural innovations. There were 260 registered participants and the conference was conducted in both English and Tetum, with simultaneous translation.

Day two ended with local farmer Francisca Pinto sharing her story of success. Francisca became involved with the SoL project in 2009, initially as an on-farm-demonstration-trial (OFDT) farmer testing sweet potato and cassava varieties. She then became a Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) contract grower of certified seed and is now an active member of a commercial seed producer group named ‘Unidade Sameklot’. Francisca spoke of the direct impacts the project has had on her family and her life: they now have enough food to eat and enough corn to last them the whole year, sometimes they can’t even sell it all; her and her family no longer get sick for no reason; she has been able to fix up her house and cover the cost of education for her five children; and she is now able to cover the cost of cultural ceremonies, which can be very expensive. It was amazing to hear the impacts the project has had on this family’s life and how excited Francisca was to be contributing to her family’s income.

Francisca Pinto addresses the conference. Photo: Laura Carew, ACIAR

Animation: a new approach to communication for development

A new approach to communication for development will help low-literate farmers adopt improved agronomic practices in Timor-Leste.

Farmers who adopt new maize varieties developed by the Seeds of Life (SoL) program and Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) can expect significant yield increases if they use traditional cultivation methods. If they also apply appropriate agronomic practices (such as planting in lines, weeding, drying and storing seed in airtight containers etc.), even higher yield increases are achievable. But how do you teach these practices to farmers?

Farmers at a maize field day: a traditional form of communication for development

Family farming feeding the world: World Food Day 2014

Today is World Food Day. While we acknowledge the number of people worldwide who go hungry everyday, we should not lose sight of the fact that the only acceptable number of hungry people is zero.

Sowing the seeds in 2013 and beyond

Prof. Jessica Fanzo

Agriculture provides livelihood for more than 80% of the population of East Timor (Timor-Leste). The specific focus of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in East Timor is increasing food security. 

This blog post has been authored by Professor Jessica Fanzo, Renewed Effort Against Child Hunger and undernutrition (REACH), World Food Programme and Assistant Professor of Nutrition at Columbia University.

Timor-Leste PhD graduate

ACIAR John Allwright Fellow Dr Marcal Gusmao (2nd from left), the University of Western Australia's first Timor-Leste PhD graduate, recently completed his doctorate in agricultural science on a legume crop which tolerates drought and waterlogging.

 

Marcal will use the knowledge he gained to continue working on improving crop yields and training agricultural science graduates at the National University of Timor-Leste, where he is also working for a United Nations development program on climate change.