The ACIAR Seeds of Life project in East Timor has the goals of 1) improving food security through the introduction, testing and distribution to farmers of improved germplasm of the major food crops and, 2) enhancing the capacity of scientists and technicians to independently develop and manage crop improvement programs for the benefit of village farmers and the nation. The major staple crops being tested are irrigated rice, upland rice, maize, cassava, sweet potato and peanut (groundnut). The project has evaluated 10-20 potentially adapted lines of these crops across 4-5 differing environments over three wet seasons in 2000-03. It was very encouraging that many introduced accessions of rice, maize, peanut, sweet potato and cassava produced much higher yields than local check varieties and some appeared quite acceptable to local consumers. For each crop, several accessions were broadly adapted with good yields across sites, whilst others yielded well at some sites but poorly at others. The increased yields possible with better-adapted material should bring strong benefits when extended and taken up by village farmers.

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0503|AL-Economics Program