Contributors: Brett Inder, Katy Cornwell, Sarah Meehan
Building a post-oil, diversified economy has been the talk of the town in recent years around Dili. The message is clear that oil and gas revenues will not last forever, and hence economic activity needs to develop in other sectors.
To contribute
to the thinking in this area, our next series of blog posts will explore some
key industries in Timor-Leste; what are the
current realities and what are the potentials.
Let’s start
with coffee.
Coffee is
an important part of Timor-Leste’s economy, being a key source of income for
around about 20% of Timorese households, and the main export earner, besides
oil and gas. Here, we start with the people: the coffee growing
households. Later we’ll get to broader
issues with developing the industry, etc.
What is it
be like to be a coffee farmer in Timor-Leste? How much coffee do you
grow? How much money do you make? What conditions do you live in?
In 2011, a
group of researchers from Monash, Southern Cross Uni and UNTL interviewed 825 coffee-growing
households in Ermera, the heart of coffee in Timor-Leste. The data confirmed the widely held views that
the sector is characterised by low yields, low incomes and poor living
conditions. There is also ample scope
for improvement, which we’ll explore further in posts to follow. For now, here is a snapshot of the current
realities:
Coffee-growing in Ermera
Stay tuned
for more on coffee in the next post!