Maize and rice are the country's main staple
foods.....MORE
FORESTS
EAST TIMOR has a total forest area of 1.4 m ha.....MORE
Coffee
Coffee is the golden prince of trimorese agriculture. For almost
a century it has been by far the most important source of cash for
farmers in the highlands and it is also the main export product
of Timor-Leste (80%). The Timor Hybrid, a natural cross between
the rust resistant Robusta, and the higher quality Arabica was originated
in Timor and after intensive improvement and selection is now planted
all over the world. Organic certified coffee from Timor has been
fetching a premium price on the international market, thus protecting
the farmers from the current low prices.
Besides the economic aspect, coffee can be used
to protect the soil in the steep slopes that characterize most
of Timor. In a coffee plantation, there is usually a upper strata
made up of legume trees, usually Paraserianthes falcataria (albizia),
Casuarina and Leucaena, which protect and enrich the soil; a
second strata made up of the coffee plants that contribute to
fix the soil, and then a third strata of spontaneous vegetation
that serve as a mulch.
Presently it is possible
to significantly improve the coffee production of Timor-Leste. The
possible improvements include: Gradual replacement of the coffee
plants that have grown into trees, pruning and cultivation of existing
ones, replacement of shade trees (particularly of the albizia that
are being attached by Uromycladium tepperianum), and improved processing
of the cherries. The market value of the coffee is much influenced
by the post harvest processing, and Timor has the potential to export
very high quality Coffee, if and only, when the right processing
technology is used.
In this section are presented various important documents on Coffee
production in Timor. For an overview of the situation we recommend
Fernando Amaral's "Prospects
for coffee development in East Timor". Helder Laines e
Silva's masterpiece on "Timor
e a cultura do Café" which is also a complete survey
of Timor some fifty years ago with interesting pictures and climate
data is also recommended as a starting point.
