Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security through an Improved Understanding of Farming Households and Value Chains in Timor-Leste

Background

Timor-Leste, a young nation of 1.3 million people, faces significant challenges in food and nutrition security despite agriculture being the dominant livelihood for majority of the population. Only around a third of the population is considered food secure, while nearly half of children under five experiencing stunting. The country is a net food importer, with 40% of all cereals (64% for rice) sourced externally. Nutritious food is limited and expensive, making it a challenge for the poorest households who spend nearly 60% of their income on food to afford a healthy diet. Malnutrition persists into adulthood and increasingly the challenge is characterised by double burden of undernutrition and overnutrition.

The food system faces multiple challenges, including low productivity, poor infrastructure, and underdeveloped market arrangements. Challenges in post-harvest management and animal health further limit domestic food supply. Despite being an island nation, fisheries and aquaculture remain underdeveloped. Climate change, land degradation, and external shocks such as COVID-19 and crop pests further threaten food and nutrition security.

While Timor-Leste government has ambitious agenda to tackle food and nutrition security, weak institutions, poor governance, and limited integration of research into policy hinder progress. This Small Research Activity (SRA) aligns with the government’s Consolidated National Action Plan for Nutrition and Food Security (CNAP-NFS), which prioritizes the diversification and sustainable intensification of homestead food production and increased fish production and consumption. The SRA also supports ACIAR’s research initiative “Building an Evidence Base to Support the Timorese People Improve Nutrition and Food Security in Timor-Leste”, which aims to enhance food security and resilience in Timor-Leste’s food systems by generating new systems-based knowledge for development policy and programming.

Project objectives

The objectives of the SRA are to:

1. Validate and build upon existing data to understand the key factors influencing the adoption of agricultural technologies, food production and consumption
2. Analyse new data to generate additional insights into the key factors influencing adoption of agricultural technologies, identify challenges faced by farming households, including young farmers, in accessing agricultural and food markets
3. Develop actionable areas for intervention to improve food security, nutrition and market access for farming households, with a focus on gender equity and youth engagement

Project Partners

• Lead institution: The Centre for Global Food and Resources
• Collaborating organisation: Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e (UNTL)
• Funding: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR Project SSS/2024/133), 2025-2027

​​​​​Contact

• GFAR researchers involved in this project:

• Associate Professor Alexandra Peralta
• Dr Rio Maligalig

Project materials, outputs and publications

• To be updated