DILI, 23 june 2021 (TATOLI)-Indonesian Ambassador to Timor-Leste, Sahat Sitorus said Timor-Leste has a very profitable business opportunity for Timor-Leste’s economic growth because many agricultural lands are still empty.
He explained that currently Timor-Leste is very dependent on export goods from the other countries, even though Timor-Leste has fertile land for farming.
“We see a lot of coconut tree which are very abundant in Timor-Leste if this is prioritized then the copra factory will operate in Timor-Leste and will be exported to other countries that need it,” said Sitorus at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to Journalist of TATOLI News Agency on wednesday.
He explained that to achieve this, the Timor-Leste government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries could provide training for farmers to immediately plant coconuts because coconut has many benefits, if it is dried into copra it will be processed to become a cooking oil.
Sitorus added that two weeks ago the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture had coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Timor-Leste already conducted virtual online training for the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries on how to plant coconut trees so that coconut trees will have a lots of fruit to be used as copra.
“I see coconut trees in Timor-Leste only have about 12 fruits. If we compare coconut trees in Kalimantan, one tree has almost 19-20 fruits,” said Ambassador.
Therefore, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia has coordinated with the Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the Government of Timor-Leste through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, has conducted training on how to cultivate good coconut trees so that they can produce a lot of fruits.
“This training has been carried out since 2 weeks ago via virtual online because of COVID-19, and the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries has reported that his staff will transform this training to several farmers in Atauro, Lospalos, Loes and Viqueque to immediately plant coconut trees in their land,” He said.
Indonesia wants Timor-Leste to be able to process copra and process it as cooking oil in Timor-Leste and will employ many Timorese employees, and also Will export to other countries like Indonesia.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Rafy Belo
