Managing hilly land for climate resilient food in Timor-Leste

Above: Tohumeta community members building terracing for their crops after training. Photo: Rural Youth Action

Not far from the capital of Dili, the hills and mountains in Timor-Leste’s Aileu district provide picturesque views, but present challenges for farmers, particularly during the wet season where heavy rainfall usually occurs daily. While the rain helps crops grow for sale at market or for families’ own nutrition, it can also cause soil erosion or even landslides.

Through the AHP Disaster READY program, Plan International Timor-Leste supported training for farmers in terracing, an agricultural technique of shaping sloping land to control erosion. This training helps farmers conserve water, save their fertile soil from run-off and improve their knowledge in how to plant vegetables and other crops using the technique. Farmers who took part in the training also received tools such as hoes and rakes.

Tohumeta village is one community in Aileu that has benefitted from the training, which was run by local non-government organisation Rural Youth Action (RYA).

Julio Babo, the team leader of an agricultural group in the village, said he was happy to have the opportunity to learn a new agricultural method.

“I am happy to be a part of the terracing training as we have attained good understanding in using this technique to preserve fertile soils,” Julio said. “It also helps us to learn modern agricultural methods to plant vegetables and food that will give a significant result in the future.”

After participating in the training, the agricultural group used what they had learned by preparing nurseries to share seedlings with other community members and to demonstrate and teach the terracing techniques to the wider community.

“I am grateful that RYA trainers were able to facilitate this training and work with farmers in our community and hopefully this partnership continues, not only in our village but expanding to others,” Julio said.

Disaster READY projects support communities to be more resilient to disasters. One aspect of Disaster READY work in Timor-Leste is to provide knowledge to community members on garden and agriculture techniques, such as terracing, so that in the future home gardens are able to adapt to climate change and support continued food security.