DILI, 05 april 2024 (TATOLI) – United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) jointly launched the second phase of the five-year Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in Timor-Leste.
The official launch of the second phase of the five-year Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program in Timor-Leste, was jointly initiated by State Secretary for Fisheries, Domingos da Conceição dos Santos, and USAID Interim Mission Director, Mark White.
Implemented by Catholic Relief Services, this phase builds upon the remarkable achievements of its predecessor, fostering sustainable economic growth and enhancing food security through agribusiness development and nutrition initiatives.
American farmers will travel to Timor-Leste as volunteers to provide technical assistance to Timorese farmers across eight municipalities: Dili, Aileu, Ermera, Maliana, Manatuto, Baucau, Viqueque, and Lautem.
White said that the program will help Timor-Leste’s farmers strengthen their capacities to cope with climate change and increase the production of nutritious food in Timor-Leste.
CRS Country Manager in Timor-Leste, Yane Pinto, said that the volunteers will help Timorese farmers to improve the family economy by producing more horticultural crops.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State for Fisheries, Domingos da Conceição dos Santos, also thanked USAID and CRS for their continued commitment to implementing the F2F program in Timor-Leste.
Farmer-to-Farmer Program (F2F) provides technical assistance from U.S. volunteers to farmers, farm groups, agribusinesses, and other agriculture sector institutions in developing and transitional countries with the goal of promoting sustainable improvements in food security, agricultural processing, production, financing, and marketing, according to USAID.
“F2F leverages the expertise of volunteers from U.S. farms, universities, cooperatives, private agribusinesses, and nonprofit farm organizations to respond to the local needs of host-country farmers and organizations. Volunteers, recruited from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. F2F represents the diversity, ingenuity and generosity of U.S. society to the world,” said USAID.
F2F has demonstrated significant impact through high-quality services from volunteers. Volunteers help individuals and organizations build local institutions and linkages to resolve local problems. Since F2F’s inception, the program has completed more than 22,000 volunteer assignments assisting over 14,000 local hosts, directly assisting more than 2.5 million agricultural professionals and impacting over 178 million indirect beneficiaries.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
