Farming in East Timor

Hugo Fernandes introduces the work of CAFOD partner Hadomi Malu (the name means ‘love for each other’ in the Tetum language). Hadomi Malu helps farmers to cultivate rice more efficiently and organises the provision or production of fertiliser and the repair of irrigation channels.

Harvesting rice in Suai region, East Timor [Steve Alston]

From the days of Portuguese through to Indonesian occupation, the Suai region was important for East Timor’s agriculture. In 1999, however, the region was devastated by the violent withdrawal of pro-Indonesian militias after the people’s vote for independence.

A massacre of hundreds of people sheltering in the town’s cathedral traumatised the population and thousands fled. Agriculture suffered badly, and it is only now, with the help of organisations such as the CAFOD-supported Hadomi Malu, that production is starting to pick up.

I visited Suai at the end of last November. From Aileu, just south of the capital, Dili, all the way to Suai, torrential rain accompanied me. The road, which was once very narrow, was now level and wide. Entering Suai from the direction of Zumalai, we could see a group of farmers working in the paddy [rice] fields. For the farmers in Suai, this is a difficult time, because the heavy rainfall and excess water sometimes hamper their preparation of seedbeds.

Wearing a bamboo hat, farmer Yohannes Paulus worked the fields with a hand tractor as his wife, Marcelina Maria, cradled their two-year-old child. The child clutched a blade of paddy, swept past by the previous day’s rainfall. "We are lucky we can plant rice three times a year," said Marcelina. “Unfortunately, during the last harvest, we had to race with the rain in order that the paddy wasn't carried away by the overflowing rain.”

For Paulus and Marcelina, farming is their inheritance. They have five children and are currently cultivating two hectares of land in Salele, to the west of Suai. Each harvest they obtain around 38 sacks of unhulled rice, or 17 sacks of milled rice. However, according to Marcelina, this is still less than the amount for which they hope. "If we had fertiliser and pesticide, we could harvest around 60 sacks of unhulled rice, just like before," she said, echoing the views of other farmers I met. They said that so far they had not seen any efforts by the government to assist farmers with seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.

However, with CAFOD’s support, an organisation called Hadomi Malu is helping Marcelina and Paulus. They have joined its Ai Oan Ba Oin farmers’ group: “This farmers' group has greatly assisted us by providing fertiliser and pesticides, as well as working together as a team," said Marcelina.

The group comprises 25 families who together work the fields of every member. The hand tractors provided are owned by Hadomi Malu which rents them out with an agreement based on division of harvest. According to Hermenegildo da Costa, the Hadomi Malu coordinator, the produce of the farmers who use the tractors is divided 70:30. The farmers retain 70 per cent of the harvest, and 30 per cent is for Hadomi Malu.

With this assistance, Marcelina and Paulus have already been able to pay for the education of their eldest child who is now a teacher at an elementary school in Suai, and their second child is studying at university.

"If things return to normal, if fertiliser and pesticides are provided, and the number of tractors is increased and the cattle are trained for ploughing, then we can once again attain our harvest targets just as before," said Marcelina.

Needless to say the dreams of the Suai farmers are no different from the dreams of other farmers in East Timor, but what stays in my mind is something Marcelina said: "From the produce of the harvest we can pay for our children's schooling."

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