Timor-Leste faces food shortages – UN report

With an expected 25 per cent shortfall in international rice purchases, 150,000 people in Timor-Leste could face food shortages this year after a two-year drought and a lack of seeds, according to a special report by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The report warns that the world's newest country will need 14,000 tons of food to cover shortages through the so-called lean period from October 2003 to March 2004. Although it expects to purchase 48,000 tons of rice on the international market, the country needs to import 62,000 tons.

WFP and FAO sent a joint mission to Timor-Leste for three weeks in April at the request of the Government, which was concerned at the after-effects of the El-Niño-related drought phenomenon. The team reported that one of the "coping mechanisms" for Timorese was to eat rodents, cats, dogs, horses and seeds. Locals have also resorted to logging rainforests illegally to sell firewood and to pulling their children out of school.