DILI, 11 January 2022 (TATOLI) – The Quinta Portugal project, has produced about 450,000 tree species – 70,000 per year – says Project Coordinator, Hugo Trindade.
“We produce different species of trees, mainly cinnamon, rambutan, shade trees – casuarina coffee, mangosteen, grevillea-robusta, acacia, mahogany, rhino, and pitaya. Over the years, several species have diversified plantations in different regions”, Hugo Trindade told Tatoli, at the Cultural Center of the Portuguese Embassy, in Dili.
The project is committed to diversifying agroforestry production and strengthening market chains, encouraging the practice of conservation techniques and sustainable natural resource management.
“In the project, we, provide the training, organizing the workshop, offer the technical support for Producers, How to Create and Manage Life to Rehabilitate Plants”, Trindade said.
According to Trindade 150 people in Aileu have become the direct beneficiaries every year from this project, the beneficiaries are coffee producers, pitaya farmers, some are still doing forestry work, and others are as well.
Trindade also said that the project will be expanded to other municipalities such as Manatuto, Baucau, Viqueque, and Lautém.
With a partnership between Camões and GIZ, the Quinta Portugal project produces and distributes more than 200,000 trees to beneficiaries in four municipalities in the eastern region of the country.
“With the agreement that we had with German cooperation, we produce and distribute trees to the beneficiaries of the Ai ba Futuru project, funded by the European Union and implemented by GIZ. From 2019 until now, we have produced around 250,000 trees, distributed across the municipalities of Manatuto, Baucau, Viqueque, and Lautém,” he said.
The Quinta Portugal project oversees the trees distributed in Aileu while the Ai Ba Futuru project is under the responsibility of GIZ.
“We monitor the plants we distribute in Aileu and we have good feedback as well as good survival rates, this is similar to GIZ, which registers positive numbers. Our function is to produce and distribute. Monitoring is done by GIZ”, he concluded.
The History of Quinta Portugal
The Quinta Portugal project began in 2016, always based in the Municipality of Aileu.
Quinta Portugal is an agroforestry center, used by Portuguese cooperation since 2001. However, before 2016, it was part of other larger rural development projects that Portuguese cooperation implemented in 2001, in the municipalities of Ermera, Liquiçá, Aileu, and Manufahi.
Quinta Portugal was a component of a larger project that, at the time, was called the “Portuguese agricultural mission”. In 2005, it changed its name to a rural development support program, and, later, in 2009, it changed to a rural extension program.
In 2013, with the end of the bilateral action of the rural extension program, Quinta Portugal spent six months without any connection to any project, and funding was sought to continue its operation. After these six months, the project was integrated into one funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by Camões together with German cooperation – the Rural Development Phase Four (RDP 4) program.
From 2014 to 2016, Quinta Portugal was a part of RDP 4. In 2016, there was no bilateral action or cooperation with Camões, so the Portuguese cooperation decided to create a project called Quinta Portugal.
Thus, the Agroforestry Center was born, located in Aileu, part of the bilateral cooperation project between the states of Timor-Leste and Portugal, called Quinta Portugal, implemented and financed by Camões, Instituto da Cooperacao e da Língua, I.P.
The project aims to contribute to the improvement of national food security, by increasing the income of rural communities, through the diversification of their agroforestry productions and the strengthening of market chains, stimulating the practice of conservation and management techniques. sustainable use of natural resources. Intervenes in the Municipality of Aileu.
Journalist: Afonso do Rosario
Editor: Maria Auxiliadora
Translation: Jose Belarmino de Sa
