Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA helps Timor Leste farmers with education and power
Agricultural development and food security are ongoing challenges in Timor-Leste. Around 80% of the population are subsistence farmers, but production is not keeping pace with population growth.
Since 2016, Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA has partnered with local organisations in Timor-Leste to strengthen farmers’ groups, helping rural communities gain access to land, learn sustainable farming practices, and build collective power.
Building union power
Our partner organisations have supported thousands of farmers by establishing over 300 cooperative committee bases across nine municipalities. These grassroots groups have united to form five farmers’ unions, with plans for two more by July 2025.
In collaboration with the National Agrarian Reform Committee (KNRA), which advocates for better land access, farming communities are organising to ensure their voices are heard in shaping agricultural policy at both local and national levels.
Educating the next generation of farmers
Following its independence, many young people in Timor Leste have been lured away from their communities for work in the capital Dili or overseas, including as seasonal workers on Australian farms. Our partner organisations are set on reversing this trend.
Over 12 months, they have equipped around 4,700 farmers – including women, youth, and people with disabilities – with essential agricultural resources, training, and mentorship in sustainable practices. By helping young people boost their yields, these initiatives demonstrate that rural life can be both prosperous and fulfilling.
This project emphasises community-led solutions through workshops in unionism, popular economy, leadership, and social change. These sessions support rural communities to address their challenges collectively.
A key player in this effort is the Solidarity Economy Institute (IEFS), a popular education school run ‘by peasant farmers, for peasant farmers’ in the Ermera municipality.
In 2023-24, the project trained 24 IEFS facilitators and supported 40 students in their Community Bachelor’s Degree program. These students also participated in an agroecology study tour, gaining hands-on experience to enrich their learning.
Fair coffee: A cooperation between Australian and Timorese unionists
A key to the success of this project is its focus on forging strong and lasting people-to-people connections, not only in Timor-Leste but with like-minded activists and organisations across the world.
In August 2023, APHEDA welcomed 12 Australian unionists on a study tour of Timor-Leste. They visited various committee bases and met farmers working tirelessly to grow Timor-Leste’s most vital crop: organically and sustainably produced coffee beans.
These farmers shared their struggles in a coffee industry dominated by profit-driven supply chains, which often marginalise small producers. To counter this, the project has supported farmers in establishing the Solidarity Economy Federation (SEF), a cooperative network of 14 bases representing 368 coffee-growing households. The SEF trains cooperatives to ensure quality coffee processing for fair-trade exports to Australia and Japan.
In collaboration with the Earthworker Cooperative in Victoria, their ‘Keep the Change’ initiative is creating a fair distribution network, allowing Timorese coffee growers to secure better prices and improve their livelihoods.
Additionally, CoPower, a not-for-profit cooperative energy retailer, has stepped up by granting $10,000 to support the establishment of committee bases and training programs focused on climate change awareness and advocacy.