Rehabilitation of Coffee Trees in Timor-Leste

Coffee is Timor-Leste’s primary agricultural export, and 37 per cent of households are involved in coffee production. Coffee is mainly produced by smallholder farmers.

More than half the coffee trees in Timor-Leste have passed their productive life. A lack of replanting and pruning has resulted in Timor-Leste having some of the lowest coffee yields in the world (195kg/ha, versus the global average of 2,000kg/ha). This means the income of coffee-growing households is also very low.

More regular Rehabilitation and Renovation (R&R) is urgently needed to address low coffee yields. Rehabilitation means the pruning and stumping of coffee trees, and renovation means removing old coffee trees and replacing them with new plantings.

R&R can greatly improve productivity in the medium term but can reduce production for 2-4 years. Government, development partners and the private sector will therefore need to provide financial and technical support for R&R to ensure it becomes a regular part of coffee production in Timor-Leste.

The Government of Timor-Leste, selected coffee producers and donors have supported several R&R trials in recent years. Results have varied depending on the agronomic and community engagement methods used. Even when productivity improvements have been demonstrated, it has been hard to ensure farmers continue R&R without ongoing external financial and technical support.

For now, rehabilitation should be prioritised over renovation in Timor-Leste. Whilst there are several stumping and pruning methods used globally, a two stem management system is recommended for Timor-Leste due to its simplicity. A greater focus on monitoring after R&R will be important for continued productivity improvement.

Download the full Rehabilitation of Coffee Trees in Timor-Leste report to see how MDF is supporting Timorese coffee growers.