A promising future for soybeans in a fertile Bobonaro district

The inaugural harvest of 40 tonnes of soybeans, enough to fill eight truck loads, was celebrated on 29 August near the town of Maliana in Timor-Leste’s western district of Bobonaro.

Sale of the soybeans will boost the incomes of local farmers who have cultivated the beans on 47 hectares of land as part of a WVTL project funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The celebration in Cailaco sub-district was attended by New Zealand Aid Programme representative Anna Moseley, Timor-Leste’s Secretary of State for Fisheries Rafael Gonçalves, and WVTL Country Director Samaresh Nayak.

WVTL provided the seeds, technical expertise and also organized to get the beans to market. Buyers include a tofu producer near the capital Dili, local producers of tempeh, and supermarkets in Dili.

Soybean cultivation has a promising future in the fertile region. Local farmers have traditionally grown corn and rice in the wet season, then left their fields unplanted during the dry season. Soybeans not only replenish nitrogen in the soil, but they also grow quickly and can be harvested just three months after planting.