DILI, 05 july 2023 (TATOLI) – Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Forestry (MLFF), Marcos da Cruz, said the MLFF will seek to reduce dependency on imported food products by increasing local food production.
“Reducing our dependency on imported foods and increasing food production is the main role of the MLFF within five years, therefore we will maximize all priority programs in the agriculture, livestock, fishery, and forestry sectors in Timor-Leste,” The Minister of MLFF, Marcos da Cruz, told TATOLI at his Comoro office, Dili.
Cruz explained these four priority programs will define the factors affecting the low productivity to be addressed within five years in Timor – Leste.
Previously MAF, under the 8th Constitutional Government, established eight irrigation systems in Bucau Larisula and Maliana in 2021 while in 2022 MoAF launched another two irrigation systems in Lospalos Laivai with a total of 8.5 million USD and in Galata with a total of 11 million USD and landed a total of 81.5 million USD from the Asian Development Bank (ABD) for water installation to develop agriculture and intensify local food production in Timor-Leste.
Following these efforts, Minister of Agriculture, Marcos da Cruz said, the Government’s MFLL will continue to work on developing additional reservoirs and dams needed to increase the productivity of local products.
“We have several irrigations that have been built by the Government in several regions in the east and west, Viqueque, Uatulari, Baucau, Lautem, Laivai, Maliana, and other Municipalities however the existing irrigation storage is very limited and irrigation systems are typically less efficient, therefore we will collect data to develop the necessary reservoirs and dams to increase the productivity of rice, corn, and vegetables in Timor-Leste,” he said.
Cruz also added that the main factor to reduce food imports and achieving the national consumption target is to utilize all of the government’s agricultural land to produce more rice and corn and other food products to support national consumption.
According to a report from MAP, Timor-Leste has a total of 86,000 agricultural vacant lands however only 3,650 hectares of rice fields are used for rice cultivation, which according to an estimate which according to estimates each hectare yields 4.1 tonnes of rice.
While food quantity report indicated that, in the last four decades Timor-Leste rice production was decreased compared to the recent year, where the local rice production increased from 48.000 tons in 2018 to 86.000 tons in 2022, despite the production slight increase in 2022, it has not met the target of consumption in Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste’s rice consumption reaches 137,800 tons annually for 1.3 million people, which means the annual production has not met the target of consumption, so MAF should provide another 60,000 tons of rice to respond to national consumption.
Related News:https://en.tatoli.tl/2023/01/12/konssantil-20-of-the-timorese-population-suffering-from-food-insecurity/15/
To responds to these food problems, Cruz said, MLFF will make every effort to cooperate with international partners, local companies, and farmers to improve the agricultural sector by implementing all the priority programs.
Likewise, Minister Marcos, also highlights fishery sectors as an important area to reduce the import of foods, saying MLFF will increase the fisheries productivity by facilitating fisheries with Offshore Fishing Tools to support their fishing activities.
MLFF will also gather the data from livestock farmers to support them by carrying out proper vaccination of animals and producing animal feed from corn stalks and rice stalks to increase animal productivity in Timor – Leste.
In addition, MLFF will also focus on planting trees for productivity, to increase the productivity of trees such as sandalwood, coffee, and bamboo which have economic value, and carry out reforestation to prevent landslides that normally happen in Timor-Leste.
“We will carry out all these efforts together with the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Livestock and Forestry including all staff at MLFF, international partners, local companies, and farmers in Timor – Leste with the same goal of reducing imports from abroad and increasing the productivity in Timor – Leste” he concluded
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor : Nelia Borges
