New conservation agriculture technology which aims to improve production levels and reduce farmers’ workloads has been adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Conservation Agriculture Project Team Leader Ruben Flamarique Urdin said the new technology removed the need to plow or burn fields before crop planting.
Instead crops such as beans, cassava and maize could be planted directly, saving time, energy and labor time.
Utilizing the new technology it takes three to four hours to plant a one-hectare parcel of land, a job that normally takes a whole day using traditional agricultural practices.
One major benefit of the new technology was that farmers could still improve their yield despite spending less time in the field.
Urdin said the system had already been used in countries like Brazil, Argentina and China with good results.
“So we would like to bring this new technology to Timor-Leste in order to change the quality of the agriculture sector,” he said.
Another benefit of the technology is that production levels can be maintained even during the rainy season. It would also help the sector become more resilient to climate change as plants were well adapted compared to the traditional system.
The new technology has so far been implemented in seven municipalities, including Baucau, Manatuto, Ermera, Manufahi, Atauro, Dili and Lautem.
Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) Estanislau da Silva said the program was a good initiative as it would no longer be necessary to plow fields.
He said crops are planted using a small machine and that unwanted materials such as leaves are removed and left as field cover.
The leftover organic material left on the field also helped to support crop production, he said.
“It can improve soil fertility so we do not need [to use] much fertilizer for planting,” da Silva said.
The organic material also helped to preserve nutrients in the soil and save water during dry periods, he added.
