A research centre during Indonesian times, MAF’s Loes Research Station on the eastern bank of the Loes River just upstream from the main bridge has been significantly re-developed under the Australian Government-supported Seeds of Life (SoL) program.  The station was finally inaugurated May 10 by their Excellences, Mariano Assanami Sabino, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and Miles Armitage, Australian Ambassador to Timor-Leste

The ceremony was attended by the community of Loes, the local leadership of Liquica District, MAF’s National Directors and heads of departments, MAF-SoL researchers, SoL Advisors including John Dalton, Australian Team Leader and representatives of AusAID.

During his remarks, His Excellency Minister Assanami congratulated the MAF-SoL team for preparing the event and the staff of the Research Station for the great work they had done in the past few years.

The station occupies a 20 hectare site used for MAF-SoL crop variety selections to identify more productive varieties of staple crops, the production of foundation seed and MAF’s corn breeding to produce new corn varieties and hybrid corn.

Loes Research Station is also a venue for livestock research with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) also supporting the introduction of animal feeding trials with Leucaena and other tree legumes

The station also offers a one hectare area where final semester university students can undertake their agronomy research. It will also soon support a fruit tree collection of MAF’s Horticulture Department

The facility’s day to day activities are managed by MAF’s Research & Special Services Directorate under Adalfredo Ferreira with operational budget, research training and supervision provided through SoL’s long-time Research Advisor Mr Rob Williams who has served the program for the past 10 years.  Meanwhile, work on the station is carried out by a team of 21 staffers headed by MAF’s Timorese Manager Telio Moniz.

The inauguration ceremony concluded with the Minister and guests inspecting the different research activities around the centre.

To assess the progress of the early stages of the 3rd phase of the MAF-SoL (Seeds of Life) program over the last six months an AusAID Technical Advisory Group (TAG) composed of John Fargher and Greg Edmeades visited Timor-Leste during the first week of May.
 
The TAG was accompanied by Richard Brettell of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) which has been implementing the SoL program since its inception in early 2000, before MAF was formed. This second TAG mission followed an initial mission last October and will be repeated around May each year.  

The mission’s work included a two-day visit to Bobonaro District May 3 and 4 to assess the initial results of SoL3’s new Informal Seed Production and Distribution component and consult with some of the 280 community seed producer groups SoL established across the 7 involved during the initial year.

En route from Dili to Maliana the mission met with a farming family at Badotmean near Batugade who recently collaborated in an On Farm Demonstration Trial (OFDT) of the soon-to-be released high yielding white corn variety initially introduced as “P07” from Central Mindanao University, Philippines. Though slightly less productive than Sele at lower elevations (40% higher yielding than local varieties, versus Sele’s 45%) the farmer was excited by the yield and the size of P07 cobs and had retained some 20 kg of the best seed for planting next year. His neighbours were also very keen to access some white corn seed.
  
The Mission then visited MAF-SoL Community Seed Production Groups (CSPGs) in sucos Cailaco and Kotaboot which had each recently produced 200 kg of good quality seed of improved maize variety Sele now stored in a 200 litre airtight steel drum to prevent weevil and rat damage.  In suco Carabau the CSPG had produced seed of SoL’s improved peanut variety Utamua and in suco Lahomea they inspected a good crop of the SoL’s improved rice variety Nakroma the CSPG group of 10 men and 6 women was soon to harvest.

Apart from visiting these groups, TAG also paid visits to SoL’s recently established 2.0ha irrigated rice research station at Raimaten on the outskirts of Maliana where variety trials and foundation seed multiplication are proceeding and the major 20.0ha Loes Research Station in Liquica District. The Loes Research Station will be formally inaugurated by the MAF Minister and Australian Ambassador May 10.
 
The TAG mission concluded Monday May 7th with presentation of a draft aide memoire to the MAF-SoL team in MAF’s compound in Comoro, Dili. The TAG detailed the results of their assessment, commended the MAF-SoL team on very good progress to date and provided recommendations on areas wherein program impact might be even further improved.
  

On 29 March the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, His Excellency Sr. Mariano Assanami presided over a ceremony marking the start of the corn harvest season in the fertile plateau of Suco Dotik in sub-district Alas in Manufahi District.  The Minister expressed his gratitude and congratulations to Seeds of Life (SoL) and RDP3 and all those who support agriculture programs in the Manufahi district.

The Minister with Senior MAF officials during harvesting ceremony

Sr. Januario Marcal de Araujo, the National Director of Agriculture & Community Development (extension) which spearheads the establishment of community-based informal seed production groups, explained their function and composition.  These ISPGs produce quality planting materials of improved varieties (rice, corn, sweet potato, cassava and peanut) for their own use and sell or barter surplus quality seeds or cuttings to other farming families in their community.  A total of 40 such informal seed production groups were established in Manufahi district in the initial year of MAF-SoL3 and 264 across 6 other districts.  In the current year these activities will expand within the initial 7 and into 3 new districts (Lautem, Manatuto and Ermera) to involve more than 650 informal seed production groups

Seed-production farmer groups received post-harvest equipments

Minister inspecting the groups monitoring book

The Minister was particularly impressed with SoL’s on-farm demonstration trials (OFDTs) of improved corn and sweet potato varieties in Webere where he observed an on-farm corn trial being harvested. He then visited four informal seed production groups where he distributed post-harvest equipment including tarpaulins for drying, hand-powered rotary corn shellers and 200 liter air-tight drums for seed storage

The Minister later visited SoL’s Betano Research Station where he toured the various replicated trial sites including the maize and lehe (cover crop) trial and the seed processing and storage facilities. There he saw seeds of P07 corn which was previously introduced from the Philippines. After extensive on-station and on-farm testing this white corn variety is now ready to be officially released. The Minister discussed with SoL staff possible names for the new variety

The Minister with MAF-SoL staff

Aware that “food security begins with seed security” SoL3 (2011-2015)  is working closely with MAF to establish the foundations of a national seed system for Timor-Leste capable of ensuring farmers throughout the country have secure access to planting materials of improved varieties of the major food crops

For a few hours each evening when the town generator is turned on, a small radio transmitter in the hills above Maliana broadcasts music, call-in, and information programs to homes throughout the Maliana basin.  Staffed entirely by volunteers and using equipment donated from a variety of programs over the last 12 years, Maliana Community Radio is a popular source of news and entertainment for families in rural areas of Bobonaro district.

The Timorese Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) supports a small salary for an Information Assistant to prepare biweekly programs featuring agricultural information and news about the ministry for broadcast on the station.  Over the past year, the Seeds of Life office in Maliana has been working with Dinis do Nascimento, the MAF Information Assistant in the district, to produce quality programming that features information on Seeds of Life activities and research findings.  Topics range from improved varieties released by the Ministry to information about the informal seed production system and research trials being run throughout the district.  Farmers hosting Sol on farm demonstration trials and seed production plots often comment that they have heard the programs and community members contact the program to ask how they can become involved.

Broadcasting a program on Maliana Community Radio

Journalists from the station often accompany Sol team members on visits to farmers and seed production groups.  This provides much needed transport to the journalists and gives the farmers a chance to share information and have their opinions heard.  While Sol advisors and visitors are sometimes interviewed, the bulk of the broadcast is made up of farmer interviews and commentary from district MAF officials about program activities and the issues faced by the farmers and groups being visited.

Dinis do Nascimento, MAF Information Assistant, interviews a farmer

A typical example of these programs was recorded over the months of February and March, and aired on April 2^nd.  Interviews with the Sol Research Advisor, the Sol Regional Advisor, the MAF District Director, the MAF Chief of Extension Department, the Sol Informal Seed Production Coordinator, a Sol OFDT researcher, and numerous Suco Extension Officers, Informal Seed Production Group leaders, and farmers were included, as well as commentary from the journalist who had conducted the interviews and prepared the program.  Rob Williams, Sol Research Advisor, encouraged farmers to conduct their own agronomy research to see what works for them, and the MAF District Director congratulated informal seed production groups on a successful harvest this year.  The Chief of Extension Department explained that informal seed production will help to make communities seed self-sufficient without the need for expensive imported seed that often arrives too late to plant.  Accompanying each interview was a clip of traditional music from the area where the interview was recorded.  Community radio provides a valuable source of information in rural communities, as it is the only form of outside media that is available to many households.  The 46 minute program will be repeated 3-4 times throughout the month of April.

At more than 200 farms in East Timor hundreds of farmers are giving valuable feedback
on the new test varieties of corn: Sele and P07.  At the start of the wet season SoL researchers
worked with farmers to establish small plots of new varieties alongside the seed the farmer would normally plant. Now at harvest time the farmers and researchers are together measuring and judging the new varieties.

Harvesting the corn plots

There are two new varieties being tested this year. One is the released variety  called Sele, and the second is a white corn from Central Mindanao University in the southern Philippines (CMU Var 12).   As the small 5m by 5m plots are harvested the weight of each variety is recorded along with the farmer’s preference.  To involve more farmers SoL organises a field day in each subdistrict where neighbours of the testing farmers also come to see and assess the new varieties for themselves. After harvesting some cobs of each variety are threshed and cooked for tasting.

Threshing each variety, ready for cooking

The farmers are very pleased with the new white corn. The new variety not only gives 30% more grain but is also very sweet to eat as a roasted corn. The seed colour is a very clear pearly white. It also has the large seed size that farmers like.  Based on what the farmers are seeing and saying more than 80% of them want to plant the new white corn again next year.

Judging the varieties.

It is client feedback like this that enables the SoL program to release new varieties with confidence.