Agriculture
HELP break the cycle of poverty
In Timor Leste, the minimum daily average wage is less than $4 and the cycle of poverty is strong. There is little employment opportunities for many outside the agricultural sector. 20% of Timor-Leste’s population is considered food insecure and it’s common that households experience ‘hungry months’ before crops are harvested. Many rural families only eat one or two meals a day with women often prioritising their children’s food over their own. The rate of malnutrition in Timor-Leste is alarming with 50% of children under five years of age experiencing stunting of their growth and development. In Viqueque alone, only 23% of young children meet minimum dietary diversity standards.
Some of the biggest tools to fight poverty come from the simplest solutions—training, loans, seeds, animals, and access to marketplaces. Helping someone provide for themselves provides change that will last a lifetime and effects that can be seen for generations.
Did you Know?
Empowerment is the best lesson you can teach someone. If you give a man a fish, you feed him for one day. But if you teach a man to fish, he will be able to feed himself for a lifetime.
Here are some of the ways that ADRA is helping families increase incomes and livelihood opportunities in Timor-Leste:
– Grow the rural economy through market-oriented agro-enterprise’s
– Connect smallholder farmers to value chains
– Increase yields, sales and cash reserves
– Provide primary products such as ginger, coconut and candle nut
– Building kitchen gardens and conservation agriculture
– Hands on training in agricultural practices
– Establish savings groups
OUR PROJECTS
FarMar
The ‘Viqueque Sustainable Agroenterprises Farmers to Markets’ (FarMar) project will run from June 2018 to May 2023 working with 1,500 farming households in rural areas of the south-east. FarMar is funded by MFAT and ADRA New Zealand with a total budget of $2,100,000 USD.
The project goal is to grow the rural economy through market-orientated agro-enterprise and improve food security by aiming to connect smallholder farmers to identified value chains; increase yields, sales and cash reserves; and improve overall family well-being. The project will focus on three primary products: ginger, coconut, and candle nut. Through project activities, it is expected that markets will be better supplied, value chains strengthened, food security increased, and trade deficits reduced.
HAHAN
The ‘Hamutuk Hadiak Nutrisaun Familia’ (HAHAN) project supported by AusAID and ADRA Australia will run from July 2019 to June 2022. The HAHAN project is targeting 1,850 people with a total budget of $400,000 USD.
The goal of the project is to increase family wellbeing and to contribute to food production with the purpose of improving family nutrition and to create opportunities for increasing income of families by marketing their excess produce.
HAHAN will provide families access to water and training in vegetable and chicken production, along with health messaging to help improve families’ health and nutrition.
PAST PROJECTS
LOSA
The ‘Livelihood Opportunities through Sustainable Agriculture’ (LOSA) project aimed to improve the wellbeing and resilience for agriculture-based communities in Viqueque Municipality by empowering farmers to manage their own resources sustainably and improve the wellbeing of vulnerable communities. The LOSA project ran for 3 years based in Luca and Uma Tolu. The primary activities included drilling and installing 17 bore wells and providing pumps, built 10 kitchen gardens, trained 98 farmers and 100 students in growing fruit and vegetables, trained 600 farmers in conservation agriculture methods, built 111 latrines, created 8 savings and loans groups and provided nutrition training to benefit 1,138 community members and 924 students.
NEWS
International Rural Womens Day 2022
The 15th of October 2022 is the celebration of International Rural Women’s Day. In Timor-Leste, we celebrate this international day with the national theme “Promoting Value Chain to Ensure Rural Women’s Products for Sustainability of Family Economic.”
The Voice of Rural Women in the Context of International Rural Women’s Day 2021
On this occasion, ADRA Timor-Leste through Women Empowerment/Hakbi’it Feto project discussed with the representatives of rural women in Timor-Leste from Ainaro, Baucau and Dili municipalities to share their experiences and hear their voice in the context of the celebration of the international rural women’s day.
KOMUNIKADU DE IMPRENSA/ PRESS RELEASE
On 02 March 2021, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Timor-Leste through Viqueque Sustainable Agro-Enterprise Farmers to Market (FarMar) Development Project held an Agreement signing ceremony (MoU) with the State Secretary for Cooperative (SECoop).
