Electronic newsletter: Making a difference in Asia and the Pacific

This project supports the Government of Timor-Leste’s objective of food self-sufficiency and aligns with IFAD’s overarching goal of empowering rural women and men to achieve higher incomes and improved food security at the household level. About 70 per cent of Timor-Leste’s workforce is engaged in agriculture, with the majority working on subsistence farms.
Specifically, the project aims to improve food security for maize-growing households, which commonly experience a ‘hungry season’ of up to three months without sufficient food stores. The development objective is to reduce losses of maize stored on-farm. This objective will be pursued through the following activities:

• New 200-litre, airtight maize storage drums procured and manufactured locally – with 42,000 imported for the first project phase – along with research and development conducted on alternative drum and container designs
• Maize storage drums distributed and used effectively through planning and training of project facilitators in target areas, as well as distribution via NGO networks and piloting of distribution via commercial agents in district markets
• Efficient project management and coordination, including the establishment of a Project Management Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Dili complex.

The project will initially target the economically active poor (i.e., households producing a minimum of 150 kg of maize per year) in Aileu, Manufahi, Manatuto, Ainaro and Viqueque Districts. It will assist 23,000 households over three years.