Paulina Quintao – Sixteen community groups have attended a week-long training course at Together We Help (HIAM) Health about the process of making quality organic fertilizer.
Timor-Leste Red Cross (TLRC) Program Manager Maria Pascoela said community groups had been established in Viqueque, Aileu, Covalima, Bobonaro, Lautem, Manatuto and Dili municipalities and were receiving funding from TLRC.
"So far they have only been using chemical fertilizer because they have no idea about how to make organic fertilizer, so they are here to learn so that they can teach other groups when they go back [to their municipality]," she said by phone.
She said the objective of the training was to help strengthen communities reliant on the agriculture sector, particularly horticulture.
The training program is being funded by Red Cross Australia, New Zealand, UK, and Korea.
Meanwhile, HIAM Health Director Rosaria Martins da Cruz said the training covered a range of subjects, including agriculture, nutrition and the process of making organic fertilizer and pesticides.
"We provide them with training so that they can bring back that knowledge and implement [the program] in their sukus (villages)," she said.
She said HIAM Health and TLRC had been collaborating for a long time and this was the third group of community volunteers to receive training.
HIAM Health is a local organization established in 2003 that works to combat malnutrition in the country by supporting and educating communities to eat and grow nutritious food.