Seeds of life

WHAT WE DO

Seeds of Life is a program within the East Timor Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). We are funded collaboratively by MAF and the Australian Government, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), under ACIAR Project Number CIM/2003/014. The Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) within the University of Western Australia (UWA) is commissioned to coordinate our Australian-funded activities.

Food security

Food insecurity in East Timor during the ‘lean’ months arises from seasonal production cycles, low yields of staple crops, unfavourable seasons, natural disasters, lack of cash income to purchase food, post-harvest losses (for example by weevils, mould and rodents) and lack of access to markets due to poor rural infrastructure.

According to World Food Program data, food insecurity in East Timor affects more than half of the population - meaning well over 100,000 families have insufficient carbohydrate at key times of the year. We aim to address this problem of food security by giving farmers access to higher yielding varieties of staple food crops, primarily maize, cassava, sweet potato, rice and peanuts.

SoL’s first stage (SoL1) commenced in 2000 and tested new food crop varieties on research stations throughout East Timor. This testing occurred for five seasons. For all crops, the testing identified varieties superior in yield to local varieties. Testing on research stations is continuing, while higher-producing and well-received new varieties are being introduced to farmers.

During SoL1, MAF was established and increasing on-farm yields was identified as a priority in East Timor’s development goals. In 2005, the second phase of Seeds of Life (SoL2) commenced as a program within MAF under the Division of Research and the Division of Food Crops. SoL2 will run over five years and will expand the work of SoL1 by trialling the most promising crop varieties on farms, according to farmers’ own management practices.

What we do
Our activities can be divided into four components.

Component One: Strengthening seed production, storage and
distribution systems within East Timor.
This involves rehabilitating three MAF Agriculture Research Stations and assisting to formulate a national seed policy. In 2006-2007 the Betano Research Centre in Manufahi District was rebuilt and equipped with farming machinery. In 2009-2010 the Loes Research Station in Liquiça District will be rebuilt, and construction will commence on the Darasula Research Station in Baucau once the Loes Research Station is complete.

Component Two: Evaluating new germplasm and associated technologies on MAF research stations. This continues the work that was started by SoL1. MAF research staff conduct the experiments and manage the stations. Seeds of Life assists them in conducting applied crop research and developing improved crop packages for farmers’ use.

Component Three: On-farm demonstrations and trials (OFDTs). This component is
the major focus of SoL2.
We are using participatory extension methods to test and extend new crop varieties and associated practices to farmers. Farmers grow new varieties alongside local varieties in 25m² test plots on their farms, and the success of the new varieties is closely monitored by our OFDT researchers. The success of each variety is defined by whether farmers keep the seed from year to year and replant larger areas each year. The farmers themselves choose which varieties to select and grow..

Component Four: Capacity building and institutionalisation of SoL within MAF.
SoL employment, training and mentoring of MAF researchers and extension officers contributes to the strengthening of crop research and extension in the Ministry. Eventually MAF staff will take over the responsibility for the program and it will be fully integrated into MAF budgetary and management structures to ensure its sustainability. On an average day in the last 12 months, nine MAF staff attended training funded by Seeds of Life.