Safeguarding Agricultural Livelihoods of Floods-Affected Farming Households Through Rehabilitation of Irrigation Infrastructures - TCP/TIM/3805
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Seroja, a category one cyclone, caused heavy rains across Timor-Leste that resulted in the worst flooding in the country in 40 years. Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, and the low-lying areas that surround it were the worst affected. On 8 April 2021, the government declared a state of calamity in Dili and called for international assistance. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) from 27 April to 9 May 2021 to provide an accurate picture to the extent to which the agricultural sector had been affected. The assessment concluded that out of 22 300 ha that had been planted for the primary rice planting season nationwide, approximately 2 660 ha had been affected by floods, and that out of 33 700 ha of corn, 1 570 ha had been affected by floods and strong winds. Irrigated land located close to rivers had been washed away and irrigation infrastructures sustained extensive damage. An increasing threat to irrigated areas over the past decade was identified, due to recurring damage to irrigation infrastructure from flash floods that are often beyond the local communities’ capacity to repair. It was also concluded that long-term landscape degradation, caused primarily by unsustainable shifting slash-and-burn agriculture practices, uncontrolled fire and overgrazing, had resulted in visible soil erosion across the national territory.