AYAD Program
Sally Bolton, East Timor
My AYAD assignment was with Seeds of Life (SoL), an AusAID and ACIAR funded food security program within the Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). SoL trials varieties of staple food crops to find high yielding varieties that adapt well to the conditions in Timor-Leste. After extensive trials the high yielding varieties are officially released by MAF, and SoL works with local farmers to produce commercial quantities of seed, which are then distributed to other farmers through government and NGO networks.
In this photo I am working with my colleagues Bosco, Marco and Myrtille to measure the starch content of cassava varieties being trialled at the Quinta Portugal Research Station in the district of Aileu. Agronomists were trialling 21 cassava varieties at the research station in 2009, each in three replications, so we had to work quickly to complete 63 starch content tests that afternoon.
Sally Bolton, East Timor
My AYAD assignment was with Seeds of Life (SoL), an AusAID and ACIAR funded food security program within the Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF). SoL trials varieties of staple food crops to find high yielding varieties that adapt well to the conditions in Timor-Leste. After extensive trials the high yielding varieties are officially released by MAF, and SoL works with local farmers to produce commercial quantities of seed, which are then distributed to other farmers through government and NGO networks.
In this photo I am working with my colleagues Bosco, Marco and Myrtille to measure the starch content of cassava varieties being trialled at the Quinta Portugal Research Station in the district of Aileu. Agronomists were trialling 21 cassava varieties at the research station in 2009, each in three replications, so we had to work quickly to complete 63 starch content tests that afternoon.