DAC Quarterly Report: GDA Expansion April-June 2012

The project is funded through the GDA Partnership with ConocoPhillips and will contribute to the expansion of project activities, on-site training and technical assistance, international training, and new equipment and materials for all farmers. The project's selection criteria for potential new communities include adequate climate, water, and soils, farmer experience with vegetable production, and road access for commercial vehicles. DAC's technical team reviewed 18 locations in Aileu District and selected six communities as having the highest potential for success: Fatubossa, Saboria, Raifusa, Fahiria, Tablor, and Seloi Casamauk. DAC's approach to teaching farmers new horticulture production techniques includes daily on-site technical assistance and more formal training in Timor Leste and Indonesia. The project places permanent field staff directly in each new community to work with farmers on a daily basis. Two types of formal training in horticulture production and farmer group organization/management are also provided: the Farmer Field School Timor Leste and international horticulture training. The Farmer Field School Timor Leste is a 3-month on-site training in advanced horticulture techniques that uses participatory, farmer-led learning techniques. It emphasizes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and soil/environmental management. International horticulture training will be offered to 40 lead farmers from the five farmer groups, using the Value Chain Center in West Java as the training provider. The training will cover production techniques and farmer group management. In the new communities, DAC is conducting initial site visits and informal discussions with farmers to observe agricultural techniques and social dynamics. In one community, Fatubossa, DAC has already started working with a pilot group of ten farmers, providing technical assistance and training in broccoli/cauliflower production. The group is actively cultivating those vegetables for sale to Kmanek, resulting in income to the farmers of $845 every week. During the next quarter, DAC will engage fully in all new communities, providing daily on-site training in improved horticulture techniques and establishing demonstration plots in each community. DAC Community Mobilization staff will work with farmers to begin working together as a group to manage their activities. An RFP will be issued for the international training component.