New, student-led research in Manatuto municipality is offering early positive results for experiments conducted with rice hull biochar – and an innovative addition to the organic fertiliser could offer a pathway for sustainable, increased crop production. Students from the University of Timor Lorosa’e (UNTL) started new experiments at Laleia, in Manatuto municipality, in August – …
The AI-Com team was this week delighted to welcome Professor Andrew Campbell, the chief executive officer of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, or ACIAR, to Dili. The visit was Professor Campbell’s first to Timor-Leste as CEO of ACIAR, and was long-hoped for – ACIAR has supported agriculture research projects in Timor-Leste since 2000, …
New research published this week from AI-Com shows that aflatoxin is unlikely to cause stunting in children in Timor-Leste – effectively simplifying food screening procedures and ensuring the safety of staple farm crops for families. Published this week in Nature Scientific Reports, the study measured levels of aflatoxin contamination in locally produced maize and peanuts …
The bad news: that fluffy, delicate little white flower you see while driving through the hills of Timor-Leste doesn’t just make for some nice scenery—it’s actually an aggressive and invasive weed known as mist flower, which takes over pastures, kills crops, and smothers creeks. The good news: new research, presented at last month’s Timor-Leste Studies …
Ai-Com researchers and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries staff have this week made progress towards the establishment of a germplasm collection of sandalwood trees at Natarbora. A local nursery has just germinated the future research site’s seedlings. Over the past few months, 200-gram samples of sandalwood seeds have been collected from 13 different villages from …
Ai-Com researchers have this week visited research plots at Betano, on Timor-Leste’s flat southern coast, to review the growing progress of a range of peas and legumes. Planted in late April, mid-May and early June, the four legume species—cow peas, pigeon peas, mung beans and red beans—are being tested in a set of four experiments, …
Researchers from AI-Com have this week presented new research on the role of tara bandu on maize and velvet bean farming systems—offering Timorese families and rural development workers key insights into how to manage animals and improve soil health, using centuries-old traditional local community practises. Presented by researcher Joaquina Barreto at the Timor-Leste Studies Association …
New research from AI-Com presented this week has demonstrated the significance of a simple rice waste product to Timor-Leste’s farming families—offering families and rural development workers significant opportunity to improve soil health, increase crop yields, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create millions of dollars’ worth of new economic opportunities for rural families. Presented by AI-Com …
Why we’re planting sandalwood in Natarbora Researchers from AI-Com spent last week in Natarbora, Manatuto municipality, beginning the planting out of sandalwood tree seedlings in a new one-hectare research plantation developed together with the Natarbora technical agricultural school. But what exactly are we doing, and why are we doing it? Sandalwood needs help to grow …
In Timor-Leste’s cooler climates, the common bean is a reliable, well-growing and protein-dense staple crop, providing important nutrition for thousands of farming families. But until now, little has been known about which bean varieties are best adapted to Timor-Leste’s climate – which could have significant impacts on the ability of crops to produce sufficient yields …