Oé-Cusse,Timor Leste (October 27^th, 2021): UNDP in collaboration with the Regional Secretary for Agriculture organized a vegetable seed distribution on 27^th of October 2021 in Manuimpena, Piku Barasanthu. This was to encourage the women groups in cultivating vegetables for the upcoming rainy season in Oé-Cusse.

The event was honoured with the participation of the Regional Secretary for Agriculture, Mr. Jose Eta, the Director of Agriculture Mr. Sirilio Baba, the UNDP SAR and ZEESM Project Manager, Ms. Patricia Porras, extension staff, local NGO AFOS, and around 45 farmers.

The Secretary and his staff were welcomed by the women group members and were taken on tour of the vegetable cultivation area. A representative explained how the group has developed into a strong vegetable producing group in Oé-cusse.

“We started with 15 farmers in 2020 June with the assistance by UNDP as we were facing a food shortage caused by the lockdown during the COVID outbreak. AFFOS, a local NGO, was assigned to guide us to cultivate vegetables and to produce food for our families in a small extent. We started to produce in 5 beds/farmer (10m x 1.2m) with seed and the technical assistance given by them,” the representative explained. “We dug a well with our own effort and watered the vegetables by hand. We were able to produce some vegetables for our own consumption and was able to sell some in the market.”

The representative of the women groups continued, “The group was functioning well. We faced a cyclone in April 2021 and our fields were flooded and the well collapsed. We started to produce after the floods and UNDP again assisted us to reconstruct the well and to install a water distribution system to irrigate the vegetable beds. Now we are producing vegetables in 15 beds/ farmer and have expanded our production.”  She further stated that  the women were supported by trainings to produce compost, liquid fertilizer and organic insecticide and conservation farming techniques.

Later on, during the ceremony, the Secretary of Agriculture distributed the vegetable seeds to the farmers from three groups: Hailomaila, Lao Hamutuk and parent Amasat. Twenty (20) varieties of seeds were distributed to each group. The Secretary of Agriculture also inspected the irrigation system as well as the stall of vegetables arranged by the women group and addressed the farmers. He was very happy to see work hard done by those 3 women groups and encouraged the farmers to maintain the cooperation between group members to guarantee the sustainability of vegetable production.

For her part the UNDP-SAR ZEESM TL Project Manager Ms. Patricia Porras remarked that the seed distribution was a continuation of the emergency program in response to the Covid 19 pandemic that has been affecting the country since last year. She further stated that the women groups were very strong to overcome the challenges and she hoped that this seed distribution would contribute to increasing family income in the region.