Making Agriculture Work for the Poor in Timor-Leste

With about 80 percent of poor households in Timor-Leste dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, it is widely acknowledged that growth in the agriculture sector is an important channel for poverty reduction in the country. That notwithstanding, the country’s agricultural production system is one of the least developed in the world, with the sector’s productivity being well below that of other small island developing states and below the average for other low-income states. Using data from the 2007 and 2014 waves of the Timor-Leste Surveys of Living Standards, this paper provides insight into the extent to which increases in agricultural productivity can contribute to poverty reduction, and assesses the drivers of and constraints to increasing agricultural productivity in the country. The findings show that improvements in agricultural productivity reduce the probability of being poor among agricultural households. The paper also finds that for agricultural produ ctivity to increase, the following factors should be considered: facilitation of farm mechanization, improvement in the use of chemical (fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides) inputs, enhancement of 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.