By:
Dageng Liu, Representative of WFP to Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is a Small-Island Nation, and the resilience of its food systems has been constantly put to test since the last two years, with COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, historic floods in April 2021 and now the increase in fuel and food prices due to ongoing global Ukraine crisis. The Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of COVID-19 in Timor-Leste (SEIA-2) 2021 indicates that 41% of households were affected by moderate and severe food insecurity in the 30 days preceding the assessment. Reducing the expenditure on food and reducing the consumption of fruits and vegetables, are common coping strategies, which exacerbates the already high levels of malnutrition amongst women and children in the country.
The Timor-Leste Food and Nutrition Survey conducted in 2020, prior to an array of food system shocks, indicated the prevalence of very high stunting rates amongst children, 47.1% i.e., every second child is stunted, and amongst women (15-49 years), a linkage between socio-economic status and increase in thinness (MUAC<18.5) and decrease in dietary diversity as shown in the Figure 1.
The array of crises and the resultant food insecurity has necessitated an urgent call for action from Government of Timor-Leste and all relevant stakeholders to address the nutrition needs of the population especially women and children. Price trend of food items including vegetables, cooking oil and beans are shown in Figure 2 below.
The fluctuating food prices due to intermittent disruptions in food supply chains has challenged the affordability of a diversified diet. With this, the strategy of fortification of staple foods, which delivers micronutrient through commonly consumed staple foods, gains more prominence, to address the currently unattended needs of the population. Rice, being the major staple food of Timorese diet with high average individual consumption of 315 g, has high potential as a promising vehicle for fortification, and fortifying rice and other food condiments like salt and cooking oil, becomes more critical than ever before. Few ways in which government could swiftly pivot its current efforts to address the nutrition requirements are as follows.
- Fortified Foods in Social Safety Net Programs (SSNPs): Existing food based SSNPs like School Meal Program (SMP) can be made more nutrition sensitive by including provisions for use of fortified rice, fortified edible oil and salt.
- Including nutritious foods in Government Food Transfers: Inclusion of nutritious food items like supplementary nutritious foods targeted more specifically to meet the needs of women and children in the food basket of large-scale food transfer programs such as Cesta Basica 2.0.
- Prioritizing purchase of fortified staple foods: Government departments like National Logistics center (CLN) should consider purchasing Fortified Rice in place of regular rice while importing from other countries like Vietnam, as part of their food reserve.
