A new ACIAR-funded project is supporting Timor-Leste to achieve greater food security for its people by increasing on-farm labour productivity.
The 4-year project seeks to explore innovative practices that either enhance crop yield with the same labour required, reduce labour requirement with current yield, or both.
Activities will include researching and demonstrating community-driven innovations that successfully increase labour productivity, assessing adaptability and adoptability of the innovations, measuring changes in yield, labour productivity and total farm profitability, and measuring changes in knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of innovations.
ACIAR Country Manager, Timor-Leste, Mr Luis de Almeida said the new investment aligns with Australia's support for long-term research capacity and partnership development and will build on enduring collaboration between ACIAR and Timor-Leste in sustainable cropping systems research.
'In Timor-Leste, ACIAR looks at ways to support and improve the country's ability to generate reliable income from agriculture, thereby improving the living conditions and livelihood opportunities of families,' said Mr de Almeida.
'On-farm labour productivity urgently needs to be improved, as young people are leaving farms for better opportunities in other Timorese towns or overseas, leaving land vacant rather than farmed, as the rewards for a day's labour are better elsewhere.,'
Under the A$2.95 million project, Australian and Timorese researchers will work with 6 participating communities across 3 regions and collaborate with local partners, including Dom Bosco, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry, To'os Servisu Kma'an (TOSKA) and the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL).
Project leader from Charles Darwin University, Dr Leigh Vial, said farming is often a difficult task for Timor-Leste's farmers, with agricultural innovations having the potential to increase productivity and improve rural livelihoods.
'Farming is a laborious task with few modern tools and there is often limited availability or knowledge of basic inputs to increase yield,' said Dr Vial.
'Labour may well be Timorese agriculture's most precious resource; increasing on-farm labour productivity has already been explored elsewhere in Southeast Asia, so this project can take guidance from that experience.'
Project collaborator and UNTL Dean of Agriculture Faculty Dr Vicente Paulo Correia said this collaboration marks a significant step forward in strengthening the university's academic and research capabilities, both at the student and staff levels, for the next four years.
'The collaboration has greatly benefited our undergraduate, post-graduate students and the faculty members who are working alongside CDU's experts and directly with local communities, contributing to real-world problem-solving in agriculture,' said Dr Correia.
'This has deepened their understanding of labour productivity challenges in Timor-Leste's agricultural sector and fostered a sense of responsibility and purpose in addressing these issues.
'This exchange of knowledge and expertise is enhancing our capacity to conduct research that is relevant to the needs of our country.'
The new project is funded through the ACIAR Soil and Land Management Program and is scheduled to run through to June 2028.
Learn more via the ACIAR website.
