IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY AND REDUCING RURAL POVERTY IN -LESTE

Around 36 percent of the population of Timor-Leste is chronically food insecure, while the country faces high levels of exposure to disasters such as droughts, floods, storms, pests, soil erosion and forest fires. Given the lack of technical expertise in Timor-Leste’s public and private sectors in terms of applied research in sustainable agriculture and natural resources management, and with vulnerable rural communities becoming increasingly affected by natural hazards, there was a need to provide farmers with the skills and support needed to improve household and national food security and reduce rural poverty. In response, the project aimed to support the Government of Timor-Leste, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, in building back livelihoods and income sources, while mitigating the further deterioration of the nutritional status of El Niño-affected families and most vulnerable households. The anticipated outcome was enhanced livelihood resilience for vulnerable farm families in drought-prone areas of the country through the integration of disaster risk management, early warning and the promotion of Climate-Smart Agriculture technologies and practices. ©FAO Timor-Leste

WHAT DID THE PROJECT DO? KEY FACTS The project achieved its objectives through three outputs. The first output was to reinforce the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Contribution national early warning system for food security. This was achieved, in USD 2 185 801 particular, by further developing and successfully managing and operating the National Information and Early Warning System on Food Security, a bottom-up Duration information system that collects data from the country’s 423 sucos. June 2017 – November 2019 The second output consisted of developing 21 Community-Based Disaster Risk Management plans for 21 high-risk, drought-prone rural sucos. This involved Resource Partner assisting government and non-governmental service providers in developing European Union (EU) and practising standard operating procedures for suco-level Hazards and Livelihood Vulnerability Assessment and for 21 high-risk rural Partners communities/sucos to prepare, adopt and mobilize resources for disaster risk Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, management plans to reduce the risks of future drought and other shocks. Ministry of Social Solidarity and Finally, the third output was focused on Conservation Agriculture and Inclusion, National Council on Food identifying and implementing other Climate-Smart Agriculture technologies. Security, Sovereignty and Nutrition, As part of this output, the project identified effective technologies and suco-level Disaster Management practices, as well as resource-poor smallholder men and women farmers Committees and farmers’ groups affected by El Niño (and at high risk from future droughts), in order to test, validate, adopt and replicate the technologies and practices through Beneficiaries group-based and market-led applied research and participatory extension 2 880 vulnerable households located in approaches. 21 coastal and hillside sucos in the municipalities of Ainaro, , Covalima, Lautem, , Manufahi and IMPACT The evidence and knowledge generated by the project influenced national dialogue on food and nutrition security, climate change and environmental GOALS degradation. In particular, the evidence on food and nutrition security put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, with the project’s support, was used by the Government for planning and budgetary purposes. The Suco-Level Food Security Monitoring System is fully operational at national, municipality (12+1) and suco (423) levels, and the widespread training provided to participants in early warning and food security analysis will help to inform the country’s food security in the future and enhance livelihood resilience. The impact study conducted by the project on Conservation Agriculture found that the income, food security and food diversity of project-supported farmer adopters were higher than for those who did not adopt the approach.

However, these differences were not statistically significant. DEVELOPMENT SUSTAINABLE

MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS . 8 531 direct beneficiaries were reached, 1 611 people trained on early warning for food security, 748 trained on Hazards and Livelihood Vulnerability Assessment and Community-Based Disaster Risk Management and 6 172 trained on Climate-Smart Agriculture. . 4 408 farmers practiced Climate-Smart Agriculture technologies over an area of land of 931 ha, including Conservation Agriculture (831 adopters on 592 ha), agroforestry (3 177 farmers on 339 ha) and post-harvest technologies (465 Conservation Agriculture farmers procured 573 metallic silos at a subsidized price). . 738 school children benefited from a water-harvesting structure built at a school in Cribas/Manatuto. . Community-Based Disaster Risk Management plans approved in 12 administrative posts and seven municipalities.

. Suco-Level Food Security Monitoring System operationalized, with ©FAO Timor-Leste 1 443 trained on data collection. . Seasonal crop yield estimate surveys (maize and rice) developed and institutionalized, through training in 12 municipalities. . Two sets of quarterly bulletins – agrometeorological and food security-related –produced in 2018 and 2019. . A comprehensive guide on Conservation Agriculture was produced, featuring a compilation of the best on-farm practices. . A guideline on post-harvest and storage management of maize/legume grains/seeds was elaborated.

. 22 extension workers from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries ©FAO Timor-Leste trained as Farmer Field School facilitators in all municipalities. . Three silo producers in Manufahi, Ainaro and Covalima municipalities trained to produce 200 kg metallic silos in June and July 2019.

Project Code FAO: GCP/TIM/008/EC ID donor: FED/2016/383164

©FAO Timor-Leste Project Title Pro-Resilience Timor-Leste – Strengthening resilience in communities most affected by drought Partnerships and Outreach For more information, please contact: [email protected]

Contact Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO Representation to Timor-Leste Viale delle Terme di Caracalla [email protected] 00153 Rome, Italy