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.
