• Pereira, Luis
• Nesbitt, Harold
• Erskine, William
• Nabias, Claudino
• Almeida, Luis
• Hornai, Ermelinda
• Williams, Robert

Abstract

From2001to2016,theTimor-LesteMinistryofAgricultureandFisheriesacceleratedtheprocessofTimorese farmers selecting and choosing new varieties of staple food crops. During this period, more than 500 varieties of 13 species were evaluated in joint research/farmer trials, resulting in the national release of 18 improved varieties. Introduced varieties were first evaluated on research stations along with the best available local varieties, and then rigorously tested with farmers in their fields. On-farm testing of a small <br/>number of elite varieties was conducted in farmer-managed trials using their current level of technology andwithnoadditionalinputs.Morethan4,000on-farmtrialswereconductedbetween2005and2015.Two principles governed plant introductions: all selected varieties had to be suitable for use by subsistence farmers,andintroducedmaterialneededtobefreeintellectualproperty.Alltestedvarietieswereeitheropen pollinated (no hybrids), pure line or clonal and conventionally bred (no genetically modified material). <br/>No varieties were released to farmers that could not be shared freely with family, neighbours and across generations. The first varieties were released in 2007, and for the next 8 years their adoption was relatively rapid compared to other variety release programs, with one in three farming households growing at least <br/>one released variety by the end of 2014. It is estimated that the use of these improved varieties increased the farm gate value of food produced by approximately US$4.4 million that year.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• theory