April 2016
Seed produced under the National Seed System which relies heavily on farmer organisations for production and certification.
Timor Leste is the newest member to the Pacific Community and despite the language barriers and difficult to reach location, the farmers of Timor Leste provide some great lessons for the Pacific Island Farmers Organisation Network (PIFON).
Life for farmers in Timor Leste has been difficult following a brutal struggle for independence from Indonesia which ended in 1999 and more recent civil unrest in 2006. Due to a variety of factors, farmers in Timor Leste often face food shortages. Timor Leste in fact, is ranked at number 74 out of the 76 countries included in the 2014 Global Hunger Index, ahead of only Eritrea and Burundi. In response to these issues of food security, the Timorese Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with AusAid and a variety of partners, formed the Seeds of Life (SoL) program which has run consecutively for 16 years with a total budget of around 38.6 million USD.
SoL’s goal was ‘improved food security through increased productivity of major food crops’ and it combines 2 synergistic components – relatively simple agricultural technology (identification, multiplication and dissemination of improved high yielding varieties of maize, sweet potato, rice, peanut, cassava and other crops), and an emphasis on agricultural education and training. The technology is unquestionably beneficial. To date, 12 varieties have been released that grown under normal farmers’ practice are 25-130% higher yielding than local varieties of the same crops.
Releasing new crop varieties is not enough – farmers need access to these seeds and the extension support to help them sustainably grow these crops. This is where MAF SoL program developed a national seed system for released varieties which is greatly dependent on farmer organisations. This has involved: (i) establishment of a seed department to strengthen the public functions of seed quality control and varietal registration; (ii) supporting commercial seed producers to produce and trade seed; and (iii) strengthening community seed production groups to produce good quality seed for group members and the surrounding community.
Farmer organisations (formal and informal), are the pillar of strength for the national seed system in Timor Leste and PIFON is fortunate to have received an application for membership from the national umbrella association of seed producer groups in Timor Leste (ANAPROFIKO) and it is envisioned that through this new network both ANAPROFIKO and existing PIFON members will benefit from the sharing of information and experiences.
A number of useful publications related to Timor Leste’s National Seed system are available are now available here on the PIFON Website. You can also download them below:
National Seed System for Released Varieties Launched
Click here to download
Farmer Groups Successfully Multiplying and Disseminating Seed in Timor Leste
Click here to download
Seed Multiplication and Distribution in Developing Countries: Timor Leste
Click here to download