Raising the living standards of Timor's poorest people, farmers and fishers

Sarina Locke – ABC Rádio Australia

Australian aid for East Timor's poorest farmers and fishers

For a Timorese family, owning a cow is a luxury and owning a herd of cattle is a sign of wealth.

Most of East Timor's cattle are skinny and riddled with parasites and diseases.

Chronic malnutrition is holding back growth in East Timor, with more than 40 per cent of its population living below the poverty line.

The population is hungry for more protein, either beef or fish, international aid projects; building roads, improving agriculture, and lifting food production.

Raising better cattle

Liquica is an hour outside Dili, where a group of farmers gather to discuss new cattle fodder: a tree crop called leucanena.

The wet season failed, but the leucaena crop was highly successful and is a good source for food for herds.

Eric Thorn-George heads up a project for the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research that aims to enhance smallholder beef production.

According to Mr Thorn-George, the right feed can mean a six-fold increase in weight-gain of cattle.

"We've been feeding them leucaena tree legume and they can put on 600 grams a day, fed straight leucaena," he explained.

"That's compared to just 100-200 grams a day [weight gain] in the jungle."

"Before it was difficult, because we had to walk a long way to cut the fodder," one farmer said.

According to Mr Thorn-George, being able to increase weight of cattle quickly can mean huge lifestyle changes for farmers.

One farmer called Angela said the extra money from fattened cattle can pay her children's school fees, improve the house and have family celebrations.

New cattle markets

Butchers will pay $2.70 per kilogram live-weight for an animal that is over 250 kilograms, according to Mr Thorn-George.

"Now the farmers know that if they farm an animal, feed it well, get it fat, they can get a better price," he said.

Farmers want to find higher paying markets that pay better than the street hawkers with dripping red meat on poles.

Two new butchers have opened up in Dili, with hopes of meeting this demand.

Timorese butcher Carlos Sequera was raised in Melbourne, but has returned home to Dili to be part of the development.

"I came home to do something useful for the country, to help show Timorese who were still doing it the Indonesian way," Mr Sequera said.

"The business is getting better, I'm killing three cattle a day. You wouldn't be cutting that much in Australia in a small shop like this!"

Mr Sequera barely sleeps and has lost weight, as he displays an urgent energy.

"I'm stressed out, I work seven days a week. I guess I love what I'm doing," he said.

Protecting the reef

For a country almost entirely surrounded by water, East Timor's fishing industry is almost non-existent.

Timor's deep oceans are plundered by foreign boats, its coral reefs are damaged and overfished, and there are few inland fish farms.

Protecting the ocean is a high priority for residents of Atauro Island, north of Dili.

World Fish, the international agriculture research body, has a tilapia fish farm project inland, and supports a local initiative to save coral reefs off Atauro Island.

World Fish researcher and fellow from Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Dr David Mills, is working in East Timor to protect the reefs.

"Surprisingly Timorese only consume about six kilos of fish, per person, per year," Dr Mills said.

"Compare that with 17 [kilograms], which is the global average and 27 [kilograms] in Indonesia. They desperately need to: children here are stunted. They don't grow properly due to nutrition problems.

"The nutrition fish can offer can be very beneficial," he said.

According to Dr Mills, the low intake of fish in East Timor is due to cultural norms and a low capacity to fish, with poor resources available.

"Sardines are probably the most important for food production now, with their short life cycle they are sustainable," Dr Mills explained.

"They're eaten whole, so when you eat the bones you get calcium, when the brains or eyeballs are eaten there's vitamin A and zinc: extra nutrients that are desperately needed in this country."

"We won't notice the difference now, but in the future our grandkids will see the difference, there'll be a lot of fish in this protected area," one fisherman said.

Sarina Locke travelled with the not for profit Crawford Fund, with the Food Security journalism Award.

Gallery: East Timor cattle project