DILI, 16 august 2023 (TATOLI)- Timorese academics and civil society organizations recommended to the Timorese Government that it start investing in the agriculture sector in Timor – Leste.
The Dean of Public Health and Medicine of the Universidade da Paz (University of Peace, UNPAZ), Cipriano do Rosario Pacheco, said the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Forestry (MALFF), must start investing in the sector of agriculture to ensure national food security and support the quality of nutrition in Timor – Leste.
“Our perspective as academics is to contribute human resources to support the government in implementing the sustainability program to start investing in the agriculture sector to ensure food security and not dependency on food importation. And with enough food, we will ensure the program of the Ministry of Health to produce nutritious food to increase nutrition in Timor – Leste,” Cipriano Pacheco told TATOLI at the Campus of UNPAZ, Surikmas, Dili, today.
Pacheco emphasized that to increase the food security to support the child ‘s nutrition, it is necessary to integrate working, which involves an action of inter-ministerial organizations such as the MALFF, the Ministry of Health (MoH), and the relevant international partners and non-governmental organizations (NGO) for working together to increase the food security for supporting the nutrition program in increasing the quality of nutrition in Timor – Leste.
“The academic’s perspective on the agriculture sector is how the government, through MALFF and its partners, must work to focus on its planning program, such as repairing the irrigation, mobilizing the farmers, facilitating the farmers in terms of distributing the tractors, seed, subsidizing the farmer, and continuing to empower farmers through capacity building training so that the farmers can have the sufficient ability to align their activities as farmers in ensuring the national food security for supporting the MoH’s program to reduce stunting by accessing nutritious food and increasing nutrition in Timor – Leste,” he added.
In a different place, the Director of HIAM Health, Rosaria de Araújo, recommended to the government through the MALFF to add the budget for agriculture every year to maximize the sectors of agriculture in the rural areas to ensure food security and not depend on food importation.
“The State Annual Budget for agriculture is less than 20%, with an allocation budget of just $28 million for every year, certainly not enough to strengthen the agriculture sector in Timor-Leste. We recommend to the government that it increase the budget for agriculture every year to empower the MALFF and its partners to work effectively in increasing the productivity of the national food security in Timor – Leste,” she claimed.
She recognized that only the agriculture sector will ensure the sustainability of Timor – Leste. Therefore, the government has to invest more in the agriculture sector by repairing the irrigation and constructing new irrigation to empower the farmers and teach them how to use modern technology to utilize the maximum amount of paddy fields and other productive land to be used for planting and keeping animals to ensure food security in the future.
“We have a petroleum fund to finance all the activities programs of the government, but it does not guarantee the sustainability of the state’s finances because oil and gas will separate in one day, so investing much in the agriculture sector is very crucial for Timor-Leste’s sustainability in the future,” she concluded.
Based on the report from the Ministry of Agriculture, around 86,000 hectares of land are productive across Timor – Leste. Meanwhile, it still uses 35,000 hectares. Therefore, civil society and academics recommended the government prioritize the productive land that is still empty to empower the farmers to plant rice, vegetables, fruits, corn, keep animals, and do other relevant agriculture activities to ensure national food security and increase nutrition in Timor – Leste.
Journalist : Camilio de Sousa
Editor : Rafael Ximenes de A. Belo
