Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in Timor Leste: For men, women and children

Deolinda Soares, from Lifaulu, Seloi Kraik village, Aileu municipality is currently practicing Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) in her field with her husband. She has one daughter and two sons. She works with her husband and they are involved in a group of 34 people with 12 women and 22 men who practice FMNR.

They are motivated by the first visit of Manuel da Silva in October 2015, one of the local champions for FMNR in their village. Manual showed them how FMNR can benefit their community and how to protect their land for the future. After the visit, they have started to practice FMNR on their own farm.

They have now planted several tree species and opening a new area for planting 5,000 trees.

Deolinda says, “We are very excited about practicing the model because it has a long-term impact especially for our children.”

They started to make terraces on the sloped land, because they cannot plant crops on their bare, sloped land. After that first visit, they have now planted several tree species and also opening a new area for the planting of 5,000 trees.

She adds, “We get training from World Vision staff about how to make terraces, and also how to plant short-term crops on our land, so that it can generate income."

In addition to that, they are also planting pineapple and irrigating with local materials, which are affordable and easy to use. They use plastic bottles and make an infuse irrigation system, which is a common practice in areas with less water.

The FMNR activity is under of World Vision’s Building Resilience to a Changing Climate and Environment (BRACCE) project in Timor-Leste and the project is funded by Australian Aid (ANCP) through World Vision Australia.