LVCD in Timor Leste by Lerina Sinaga Presented to Market Development Interest Group 18 th February 2015

Aileu - Livelihood Improvement Through Farmer Enterprises (LIFE) Baucau - Community Economy Development (CED) Bobonaro – Bobonaro Food Security and Economic Development (BFSED) Areas Of Operation

Identified Products Vegetables, such as: Cabbage, broccoli, chili, tomato, etc. Soybeans Coffee Shallot Mungbeans

Progress… Number of Market Facilitators (MFs) : 3 MFs Number of Local Market Facilitators (LMFs) : 67 LMFs Number of LVCD producer groups: 59 Groups Number of producer group member: 943members (approx 40 % are females) Percentage of change in average price: 20%- 50% Implementing partners: Kmanek Supermarket, Leader Supermarket, Dilimart, Ministry of Agriculture, IADE, etc

Project achievements: Farmers groups has signed MOU with 3 supermarket buyers (Dilimart, Leader & Kmanek supermarket) to supply more then 25 variety of vegetables regularly (1-2 times a week)

Increased economic resilience of 59 groups (943 people) through improved production and regular access to market. LIFE project has booked total sales US$74247,58 in 2014 with more than 110 tons of vegetables.

Producer Groups have improved farm production Harvest of 52 ha soybean in Bobonaro produced more than 40 tons of soybeans, valued at more than US$35,000 (Aug 2014) CropTreatment Yield (ton/ha) National average (ton/ha) CornInter cropping with mung bean CornTithonia green manure CornThitonia green manure Soybean Liquid fertilizer Leaf spray

Producer Groups participate in Village Savings & Loan Groups to save their extra incomes from the collective selling. 60 Saving and Loan Groups (981 members) with total capital $118,078 (Sept 2014)

NoTrainingGroups/ HHsFemaleMaleTOTAL 1Horticulture Demo Plot Composting Pest Control Seeds Production Grafting Soil test Candle Nut Food processing Post Harvesting Cross Visit Local Market Facilitator training TOTAL Producer Groups have improved their skills and knowledge both in production and access to market through variety of trainings:

Farmers keep selling their products individually since they need urgent money Lack of trust between farmers to do collective selling Lack of market information regarding: alternative buyers, price, quality, market demands, etc Difficult to get farmers to monitor their production and incomes. Infrastructure (road and transportation) Difficult to find good Market Facilitators Challenges and constraints

Way forward Keep improving the capacity of Local Market Facilitators on market information through training, cross visit, etc Strengthen existing Producer Groups through continued capacity building Keep improving farm production Add other potential product such as: candle nut, coffee, etc Expand with more Producer Groups joining collective selling Work with more buyers, especially exporters Trial the monitoring tools to record production and income

Monitoring Tools

Crops Production

Livestock Production

Cost of Production

Income Statements