Bringing Soils Back to Life
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| A truck full of saplings will be used to help rehabilitate the hillside soils. |
In the Timorese communities of Kika and Usu’un, most of the land close to the communities consists of steep hills and rocky soils. Because of deforestation and overgrazing, large portions of this land are of poor quality and have been abandoned as a result. Nearby farmers have to walk quite far to reach land they can actually farm.
Our USC Timor Leste colleagues have told us that a series of exchange visits between these farmers and a couple of other USC communities – Manelima and Kalohan – have started to yield some wonderful results! Just two years after the first visit, the farmers of Kika and Usu’un have discovered they could transform their challenging landscape into productive farming terrain.
In particular, the Botanical Gene Bank in Kalohan really caught their attention, inspiring them to start their own living collection. Today, the Ilimanuk Botanical Gene Bank – named for the indigenous people who settled this area – has a small building for storing seeds and preserving local cereal crop diversity. But just as importantly, it has become a hub of community field-based activities.
Many of the crops grown in this area are not grown from seed. Rather, they’re started from roots or cuttings, so it’s critical to preserve these local varieties, perennial fruit trees, and other plants by growing them directly in the fields.
With training and advice from the facilitators at USC Timor Leste and from local farmer leaders, young people have taken the lead, forming work groups to build terraces, set up live fences, establish water systems, and put up a small building for seed storage and meetings.
In just under one year, the Ilimanuk Botanical Gene Bank has become a thriving collection of community plots. Located on a 2.2 ha piece of land (about the size of five soccer fields) donated by the community, each participating farming household is responsible for a 200 square meter plot, planted with a diversity of food plants. They’ve nurtured the soil with composting and organic fertilizers, and according to Loehunu and Maulele – two older farmers from this community, “As far back as we can remember, the land has never been as productive as it is today.”
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| Farmers work the land around the Llimanuk Botanical Gene Bank |
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| Lucas da Cunha and Maulele da Cunha – two older farmers from this community – help plant saplings and do field maintenance. |
2 Responses to “Bringing Soils Back to Life”
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USC Canada
was founded by
Dr Lotta Hitschmanova in 1945. Our award-winning Seeds of Survival program promotes vibrant family farms, strong rural communities, and healthy ecosystems around the world.
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This is really great! Love seeing the contour worked
We don’t feature the work of our partners in Timor Leste often enough. They’re doing some fantastic work.