Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
About 80 percent of the poor households in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel through which povert...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/785731560917956238/Timor-Leste-Poverty-Making-Agriculture-Work-for-the-Poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32017 |
| Summary: | About 80 percent of the poor households
in Timor-Leste live in rural areas and are dependent on
agriculture for their livelihood. It is therefore widely
acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an
important channel through which poverty can be reduced in
the country. That notwithstanding, the country’s
agricultural production system is one of the least developed
in the world and all subsectors are dominated by subsistence
systems and by farmers who are very risk averse.
Agricultural productivity in the country is also well below
that of other small island developing states and has fallen
below the average for other low-income, food-deficit
countries in recent years making the sector underperform in
terms of its contribution to food security, sufficient
livelihood, and overall economic growth. Using data from the
2007 and 2014 of the Timor-Leste Survey of Living Standards,
the note provides insight into the extent to which increases
in agricultural productivity can contribute to poverty
reduction, including assessing the drivers of, and
identifying the constraints to, increasing agricultural
productivity in the country. The note finds that
improvements in agricultural productivity reduce the
probability of being poor among agricultural households.
Yet, improving productivity goes beyond the confines of
raising yield or decreasing cost to include enhancing food
quality and promoting higher value products. To do so, the
following factors ought to be considered: facilitation of
mechanization, improvement in the use of chemical
(fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides) inputs, enhancement
in access to credit and extension, encouragement to farmers
to join farmer groups, expansion of the commercialization of
farm produce, and reduction in the gender gap in
agricultural productivity. Investment in the sector can be
improved by allocating the limited public funds more
strategically and better correspond with local poverty. The
findings from this study contribute to existing evidence
pertinent to guide how agricultural policy can effectively
help reducing poverty in the country. |
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