East Timor

Timor Economic Rehabilitation and Development Project

A mountainous island nation situated between Indonesia and Australia, East Timor is still rebuilding after its independence from Indonesia in 1999 sparked large scale destruction and the displacement of nearly a third of its population. Today, its population of 1.06 million is growing at a rate of 2.08% ('06) and adult literacy is 58.6% literacy ('02). Per capita GDP is $800 ('05 est.) and real GDP is growing at a rate of 1.8% ('05 est.) The country's main agricultural products are coffee, rice, corn, cassava, sweet potatoes, soybeans, cabbage, mangoes, bananas, and vanilla; coffee is its main export outside of recently developed oil and gas reserves.

Snapshot of Success A Café Clinic Timor nurse at a permanent clinic conducts a routine health check-up for a participating farmer's family member.

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History
NCBA has had a continuous program in East Timor since 1994. Under TERADP I, the precursor to the current project, NCBA assisted small scale farmers in the development of their cooperatives (primary, second and national level) and their export of organic coffee and vanilla.

Current Project
Timor Economic Rehabilitation and Development Project - TERADP II (October 2002 - March 2008)

Funding:
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Goal
Stimulate economic rehabilitation and rural economic growth in East Timor.

Objectives
(1) Identify and develop viable, sustainable economic opportunities and extend these to increasing number of the population; and
(2) Develop effective rural enterprises.

Strategies
Applying its cooperative methodology, CLUSA is strengthening and developing smallholder agriculture as well as the rural enterprises that serve the production and marketing needs of small farmers and small-scale enterprises. Strategies are grouped under three project components: coffee production and marketing, agriculture diversification, and health service provision.

For the sound development of the coffee sub-sector, the project assists affiliated farmer groups to continue and expand their coffee-related activities including processing, drying, storage, transport, and setting up demonstration farms. A practical step-by-step process has set up the coffee procurement and processing infrastructure necessary to make dramatic increases in product volume and build the reputation of Timor organic coffee in the specialty market.

TERADP is also building the capacity of farmers to diversify their agricultural activities and focus on high value, high cash crops including beef cattle and vanilla. In addition, CLUSA is transferring skills in agroforestry techniques to encourage planting of both shade trees essential to coffee production and fuelwood, timber and livestock fodder trees of value to communities.

Finally, responding to the dearth of even rudimentary health care for rural populations, CLUSA is improving the general health of the target population through preventative maintenance education and the provision of basic medical services.

Impact (as of June 2008)
Coffee Production

• Cooperativa Café Timor, a worker owned cooperative now boasts membership of more than 20,000 farm families.
• Over 157,000 farmers have marketed their coffee crops through Cooperativa Café Timor (CCT). CCT's coffee is also sold in Australia, Norway, New Zealand and European Union markets, bringing hundreds of millions of US dollars to the local economy and supplying jobs.
• Most of the coffee exported is Grade One. Another major project achievement is the production and marketing of a Timor "single origin varietal" coffee. "Starbucks Arabian Mocha Timor" is now sold in over 11,000 Starbucks stores.
• The cooperative coffee farms successfully completed international organic, Fair Trade and Café inspections for U.S. and European markets, and they are now recognized as producers of some of the world's premier coffee.

Agriculture Diversification

• Over 5,000 rural Timorese (including women and adolescents) received technical training in tree planting and agroforestation.
• Hundreds of yearling bulls have been purchased for the local cattle supply system.
• 860 farms were mapped and surveyed for organic vanilla production certification.

Health Component

• At least 11 permanent clinics and scores of mobile clinics under the banner of Café Clinic Timor are now in continuous operations and serving no less than 5 rural districts, and over 1.2 million patients have been treated as of February 2008.