DILI (TOP) – The USAID's Avansa Agrikultura project in Timor-Leste has successfully trained 12,800 farmers in modern gardening practices and increased income from $ 235 to $ 2,661 from 2015 to 2020.
Today the Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Timor-Leste, Elias Parra, led a closing event to celebrate the many successes of USAID’s Avansa Agrikultura Project, which, after nearly six years of work, is set to end in January.
Highlighting the accomplishments of the project for senior Timor-Leste government officials, event participants learned how over 33,000 farmers, cooperatives, and businesses grew their connections to markets and suppliers. In areas where Avansa worked:
- Over 12,800 individuals were trained in modern farming practices
- Incomes for farmers and produce collectors increased over 1,100 percent, from $235 to $2,661 per month from 2015 to 2020
- Savings by farming groups increased to almost 300 percent
- Hunger decreased from 15 to 0.9 percent where the project worked
Avansa helped improve farming practices by supporting the private sector in getting modern farming tools and finance into the hands of hardworking farmers, produce collectors, and small businesses.
In a very successful model, Avansa built relationships with input suppliers and banks to increase the use of modern technology and finance with project farmers.
Farmers gained the financial literacy to take out their own loans to pay for modern agricultural equipment that dramatically improved farm productivity. Now, Timorese agricultural supply companies are providing training on the equipment they sell, independently supporting farmers in the same way USAID did through Avansa.
“The U.S. Government is proud to support Timor-Leste’s journey toward self-reliance, and this project is a prime example of this. We look forward to engaging with old and new partners to build the agribusinesses that will meet the demand for high value produce. Farmers are the key investors in their own successful transition from subsistence to commercial farming and the Avansa project has helped them and Timor-Leste along the journey to self-reliance,” said Charge d'Affaires Elias Parra in a press release.
