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
Rice
Maize and rice are the country's main staple foods. Over the last
100 years a great deal of effort has been put into increasing the
rice production in East Timor in order to make the country self-sufficient.
Rice, when planted is terraces is also perceived as a means of protecting
the soil from erosion. The total area reached a peak of 80 000 ha
before 1975, but was never enough for the needs of the country.
The productivity is relatively low (less than
2000 kg/ha) and most farmers are reluctant to produce a second
crop, as it is both risky and the market price low.
ARP has been working on increasing rice production by rehabilitating
the existing irrigation schemes, although irregular rainfall
and the torrential regime of the rivers has made this task
fairly difficult.
Studies from Portuguese
times show that the joint application of Nitrogen and Phosphorous
can increase production of IRRI varieties (sometimes up to 25kg
rice/kg of fertilizer). ACIAR is presently working on selection
of appropriate rice varieties, and it hoped that the rice productivity
will increase over the next years.
