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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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/785731560917956238/Timor-Leste-Poverty-Making-Agriculture-Work-for-the-Poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32017
id okr-10986-32017
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-320172021-05-25T09:25:37Z Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste World Bank AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES POVERTY ALLEVIATION AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION 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. 2019-07-02T18:59:29Z 2019-07-02T18:59:29Z 2019-06-18 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/785731560917956238/Timor-Leste-Poverty-Making-Agriculture-Work-for-the-Poor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32017 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Other Agricultural Study East Asia and Pacific Timor-Leste
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
spellingShingle AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION
World Bank
Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
geographic_facet East Asia and Pacific
Timor-Leste
description 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.
format Report
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
title_short Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
title_full Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
title_fullStr Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
title_full_unstemmed Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste
title_sort making agriculture work for the poor in timor-leste
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/785731560917956238/Timor-Leste-Poverty-Making-Agriculture-Work-for-the-Poor
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32017
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