Seeds of Life is an AusAID funded program which aims to help local farmers maintain an ample supply of staple-crop seeds. They've been working in Timor-Leste since 2001 under the maxim "seed security is food security". Although their work has achieved some measured success, not everyone agrees with their method. Ego Lemos, an agricultural activist and a renowned Timorese musician, thinks this program is destroying Timor-Leste's crop diversity by focusing exclusively on quantity.
Read more: "
Seeds of Life or destruction of culture? Hungry East Timor debates" by Nick Sheridan.
some responses and back and forth on Seeds of Life can be found on ETAN's east-timor listserv. Start here: https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/east-timor/2013-01/thrd3.html
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