Restoration of Meteorological Network (2000)

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REPORT II UPDATED NOVEMBER, 2000

REPORT ON RESTORATION OF METEOROLOGICAL

NETWORK - TIMOR LORO SAE

Prepared By: Glenard Donald KEEFER

53 pratten St. CORINDA 4075 Qld.

Phone 07 3379 6068

FAX 07 3379 2375

EMAIL [email protected]

November, 2000

To Fulfill Contract No. AET/067 with UNTAET Dili

United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor

Report on Restoration of Meteorological Network - Timor Loro Sae


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INDEX

Index i

List Tables iii

List Figures iii

List Appendix IV

Executive Summary V

1. Introduction 1

2. Terras of Reference 2

3. Availability of Historical Data 2

4. Climate Timor Loro Sae 7

4.1 Factors Determining Rainfall Patterns 7

4.2 General Climate Features 9

4.3 Climate Classifications 10

5. Agro climatic Zones of East Timor 11

5.1 Rainfall Patterns in East Timor 11

5.2 Influence of Altitude 11

5.3 Micro-climate Effects 13

5.4 ARPAPET Agro climatic Classification 14

6. Agricultural Implications of Agro climatic Zones 16

6.1 Fitting Crops/ Enterprises to Agro climatic Zones 16

6.2 Present Agricultura) Enterprises 17

6.3 Future Agricultura) Opportunities 18

6.4 Seed and Cultivar Supply and Sourceing 20

6.5 Agro climatic Requirements of Specific Crops 21

6.6 Agronomic Support 21

6.7 Factors in Decision Making 22

7. Survey of Meteorological Stations 23

8. Recommendations Climate Network - Number of Sites & Location 24

8.1 Number & Locations 24

8.2 Selection of Sites 28

8.3 Security Fencing 29

8.4 Guidelines for Negotiating Site Tenure & Observers 29

9. Basic Rain Gauge Installation 3

9.1 Location by District and Recording 30

9.2 Importance of Maintaining Central Climate Data Base 33

10. Equipment and Budget for Restoration Program 33


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10.1 Measurement of Rainfall or Precipitation 33

10.2 Equipment 35

10.3 Budget for Restoration Program 36

10.4 Budget and Program Assumptions 37

11. Recommendations Staffing, Operation, Training 38

11.1 Long Term Forecasting 3811.2 Staffing 38

12. Participative Workshop 40

13. References 41

List of Tables

Table 1. Portuguese Stations which Measured Climatic Elements

(Either Pre or Post 1950) in Addition to Rainfall 4

Table 2. Portuguese Stations Recording only Rainfall 6

Table 3. Examples of Oldeman (1975) Climatic Classification for East Timor 11

Table 4. Summary of Mean Temperature Ranges - Three Altitudes 13

Table 5. Areas (ha) of Agro climatic Zones in each District 16

Table 6. Suitability of Main Crops/ Enterprises 17

Table 7. Recommended Locations Future Stations - Northern Agro-climate Zones 27

Table 8. Recommended Locations Future Stations - Southern Agro-climate Zones 28

Table 9. Locations 50 Rain Gauges Nov. 2000 31

Table 10. Locations to Consider in Second Tier Rainfall Recording Network 41

List of Figures

Figure 1. Diagrams Illustrating N-S Wind & Equatorial Trough Movements 7

Figure 2. Altitudinal Differences in Mean Temperature 10

Figure 3. Maliana/ Monomodal & Lolotoi/ Bimodal Rain Patterns 11

Figure 4. Agro-ecological Zones for Vegetable Production - Java 14

Figure 5. Agro climatic Zones of East Timor 14

Figure 6. Map Showing Location of Portuguese Stations 24

Appendix

Appendix I. Inventory of Available Historical Data


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rainfall is critically important for cropping advice to farmers, for the establishment of an early

warning system for food security issues and for disaster relief planning. Demands for historical

and current climate/ rainfall data will also come from industries involved in solar and wind

turbine power plant design and from engineers involved in road, bridge and irrigation

development.

Reestablishment of an adequate climate recording network can be justified as a priorityfor the following reasons:

(i)Climate and rainfall data from all districts of East Timor is required to make crop

productivity forecasts on a monthly basis as the crop seasons unfold.

(ii)Comparing current rain data with long-term means from each recording site will

enable food security in each district to be monitored.

(iii)Current rain data and evaporation estimates are needed for Tactical scheduling of

irrigation requirements for rice and other crops using FAO computer programs or programs

developed locally.

(iv)Current and historical rain and climate data on a central data base will be available

for Strategic planning for new and existing crops, environmental catchments management

programs and engineering design for roads, bridges and solar/ wind turbine power generation.

For those given the responsibility of planning and supporting agricultural/ forestry/

livestock production a climate/ rain recording network is an essential tool - not a luxury. With

training the data collected together with soils data will give those concerned a much better

understanding of the systems with which they are working. They will then be in a better position

to make environmentally sustainable changes to those systems for the economic and social

benefit of particular agricultural communities and villages.

Historical Data

Forty two Portugese stations measuring rainfall/ climate data were in operation for

varying periods from 1914 to 1941. Stations were reestablished in 1952-53 and fifty four stations

were in operation for varying periods up to Indonesian occupation in 1975.

The data recovered in Dili to date includes daily and monthly summaries for 31 of the

stations operating in the 1914-41 period but many of these records are incomplete. Journals

containing daily data for 33 of the stations operating during the 1952-74 period have also been

recovered and appear to be fairly complete.


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The number of stations operating during Indonesian control from 1975 to 1998 is unclear

and very few data have been recovered. It is anticipated that approaches to institutes in Portugal

and Indonesia will recover further useful data.

A quick assessment of historical data indicates that (if further data is recovered) more

than 50 years data should be available for some fifteen to twenty locations and there should be

up to forty stations with more than 25 to 50 years data particularly rainfall.

Climatic Features and Agro climatic Zones of East Timor

The report outlines the factors determining rainfall patterns and general climatic features

of East Timor. An analysis of historical rainfall and temperature data (ARPAPET, 1996)

produced a simple but effective agro-climatic classification of East Timor. The six Agro climatic

Zones are based on historical rainfall totais and distribution within different altitude limits (0 -

100 m; 100 - 500 m; > 500 m). These altitudinal boundaries reflect important temperature

differences which dictate crop selection. There are three Agro climatic Zones North and South of

the main mountain chain - each with a different rainfall pattern. The three Northern Zones

experience a Mono- modal rainfall pattern with a peak in the December - January period and

decreasing monthly rain totais to April. In the North there is a 5 - 8 month dry season. The three

Southern Zones experience a Bi-modal rainfall pattern with a second rainfall peak in the May-

June period. The Southern zones experience a 3 - 5 month dry season.

Within each of the six zones, soils play an important role in determining crop suitability

and crop productivity and the report stresses the need for training in the simple assessment of

important soil properties.

At some time in the future when more complete climate and soils data have been entered

on the agro-climatology data base it should be possible to develop a more detailed agro climatic

classification of East Timor using GIS mapping techniques. These maps will only be useful if

the basic data used to develop them is confirmed with field transects and field surveys. In the

mean time, the six agro-climatic zones defined by the ARPAPET project provide a very good

conceptual framework for discussing agricultural problems and opportunities.

Agro climatic Implications of Agro climatic Zones

The first step is to detail crop/ tree/ livestock specifications and then to allocate

enterprises which are suitable to each agro-climatic zone. These specifications include climate

related factors (radiation response, optimum & critical temperatures for growth, temperature and

day length development response, Plant Available Water response) as well as soil related factors


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(non limiting & potential root depth, texture, drainage, pH, salinity response). In a rain-grown

agriculture Plant Available Water requirements can be expressed in terms of annual water

requirements and in terms of wet months (> 100 mm) and dry months (< 100 mm).

Based on the climate related factors crops/ enterprises can be allocated to the Agro

climatic zones. Soil specifications can then indicate the locations in each zone which are suitable

for specific enterprises. The report lists in Table 6 a range of crops/ enterprises and tabulatestheir suitability for different zones. Current Agricultural enterprises are outlined for each zone

and future agricultural opportunities are discussed.

Survey of Meteorological Stations

Over a period of seven weeks surveys were conducted in ten of the thirteen districts of

East Timor. Planned visits to Covalima and Bobonaro were postponed because of security

concerns and transport difficulties. Oecussi was given a lower priority after inspections in the

other districts found no operational equipment. Subsequent reports from the District Agricultural

officer indicate that no equipment has been located. A planned visit by boat to Atauro did not

eventuate.

In summary, no worthwhile functional equipment was located. The survey did provide an

opportunity to assess accessibility of some Portugese locations, to ascertain their proximity to

agricultural enterprises and to assess their suitability for inclusion in the primary network.

Recommendations New Climate Network

The number of restored sites should be within future East Timor budget and staffing

limitations but at the same time should provide sufficient information for reliable food security

and crop productivity predictions in the main cropping areas.

It is recommended that 10 fully automated solar powered climate stations be installed at

representative locations which already have some historical data other than rainfall. The first aim

was to locate one climate station in each of the six Agro-climatic Zones previously outlined. The

locations selected as being representative of these zones are Dili, Dare, Maubisse, Ainaro, Same

and Betano.

Fuiloro was selected as being representative of the Lautem plateau and it is

recommended that a further three stations will be installed at the airports of Baucau, Suai and

Oecussi to serve both agriculture and Civil Aviation services. The recommendation was that a

further 30 locations be supplied with manual rain gauges but this number was increased to 35

following the participative workshop. The workshop identified a number of areas which were

not adequately covered by the proposed network. Two of the extra rain recording locations

(Lissadila and Cribas) were not part of the Portugese or Indonesian network. The tables below

summarise the recommendations. The villages of Uato-Lari and Laclu were moved closer to the


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coast during the Indonesian era - the new altitudes are given with the altitude of the old location

in brackets.

If Civil aviation gets funds from another source for Replacing Automatic Stations )at Dili,

Baucau, Suai ) the funds allocated in the Agro climatology proposal can be diverted to

Automatic Stations in rhe other strategic agro-ecological zones.


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At each location, sites need to be selected to give correct exposure of the instruments.

Instruments should be sited where the observations are representative of a wide area that is

similar to the cropping or forest areas where the data will be used. Frequently it is not convenient

to locate climate stations or rain gauges in the middle of a cropping area and some compromise

is necessary so that the instruments will be reasonably accessible to the observer - this is

particularly important for manual rather than automatic equipment.

Measured rainfall will not be representative if the gauge is placed under a tree or beside a

post or wall - the obstruction will exclude rain that should have fallen into the gauge or perhaps

add rain that should not have fallen into the gauge. Another bad exposure is at a site where there

is a local disturbance to wind, such as on top of a roof, on a fence or near an embankment or

escarpment. In such positions wind blowing up or strongly across the gauge will deflect the

raindrops. The effects of bad exposure can easily amount to 10 percent and may be much higher.

OBSTRUCTIONS SHOULD BE DISTANT FROM GAUGES OR AUTOMATIC CLIMATE

STATIONS BY AT LEAST FOUR TIMES THEIR HEIGHT. Some compromises have to be made

and with the gauges mounted at 1.2 metres TWICE the HEIGHT of the OBSTRUCTION is

reasonable.

Specifications have been drawn up for security fencing for the 10 Automatic Climate

Stations and quotations sought for inclusion in the budget. It is recommended that fencing of the

remaining rainfall sites be carried out by the local communities using local materials and a small


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allowance has been made for this in the budget. Guidelines for negotiating site tenure and

observers are provided in Section 8.4 of the report.

Basic Rain Gauge Installation

The Participative Workshop requested that some rain gauges be distributed before thiswet season. From 1 25 November 50 rain gauges were distributed throughout East Timor

including three in Oecussi and one on Atauro. Considering road conditions and the remoteness

of some locations this was a great achievement only made possible through excellent

cooperation from two East Timor counterparts, who trained the recorders at each site.

The gauges were funded by Aus AID at a total cost of A$ 1638 including freight and

insurance. While these gauges are not as robust as the gauges included in the budgeted proposal,

they are accurate and should provide adequate data for immediate purposes - mainly agricultural

monitoring and planning. It may be possible to extend the rain recording network to more remote

communities if these gauges are shown to be durable.

The rain records are to be collected at the end of each month by District Agricultura)

Officers and forwarded to the Agriculture Division in Dili. The job description of one of the

recently appointed staff will need to be modified to include data entry and maintenance of a

central data bank. Average monthly rain records are available for 58 locations including most of

those where the gauges have been located. A simple comparison of long-term averages with

current averages will enable seasonal conditions in each district to be monitored. Once long-term

averages have been verified against all available historical data, more sophisticated predictive

techniques can be developed.

Importance of Maintaining Central Climate Data Base

Projects installing climate measuring equipment should consider its long term use and

maintenance. It is critically important that any such equipment becomes part of a National Agro-

climatological/ Meteorological Network and that copy of any data collected are supplied to a

central Climate Data Base on a monthly basis. As Agriculture will be one of the prime users of

Historical and Current climate data it is logical that the Agro-climatology Unit in the Division of

Agricultural Affairs will become the coordinating authority for a central data base. This will also

mean that this Unit will be responsible for supplying data to other interested users.

Equipment and Budget for Restoration Program


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The factors to consider in the measurement of rainfall are discussed in the report in

relation to the type of rain gauges best suited to East Timor conditions. These factors will be

taken into account when purchasing the manual rain gauges. In the Indonesian and Portugese

periods the rain gauges were mounted on a post at 1.2 metres and it is recommended that this

practice be continued so that future observations will be comparable with historical data. There

would also be advantages for observation and maintenance to mount the gauges at 1.2 metres.Detailed specifications for the automatic solar powered climate and rainfall recording

equipment are provided for tender process. The equipment should record rainfall intensity and

totais, temperature, humidity, radiation and wind speed and direction as well as having a spare

channel for the use of other sensors. Software modules are provided which calculate evaporation

from the other data and store the data in a database which allows the observer to graph and

tabulate the data collected. Automatic equipment has been in use in many parts of the world for

the past 25 years and has proved to be reliable and to require minimal service. Data only needs

to be downloaded every 4 - 6 weeks and indirect methods for downloading are available.

The following Budget Amounts have been allocated for purchase and installation of the

equipment and for staff training and capacity

building.

It is assumed that the East Timor Administration will be responsible for recurrent/

operating costs and that staff will be available to collect, store and use data on a continuing basis.

Vehicles should be provided for the supervising staff to inspect recording sites and cropping


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areas so that they can monitor food security and other aspects of agricultural production in the

field.

The technician to supervise installation of equipment and training of local staff in its

operation and use will be nominated by the firm contracting to supply the automatic climate

stations. The Job descriptions for the two International Training consultants are provided.

Recommendations Staffing, Operation and Training - Agro climatology Unit

The main objectives of the climate network are:

To provide data for agricultural strategic and tactical planning

To provide data for sound environmental catchments management

To provide data for engineering design of roads, bridges, dams and wind and solar

powered electricity generation.

At the same time, staff of the Agro-climatology unit should liaise with agro

climatologists in Australia who are making long range forecasts based on the Southern

Oscillation Index and other indices relevant to locations affected by 'El Nino' weather patterns.

Ideally, a Supervisor, two Agro-climatology Agronomists and a clerical officer with

computer skills would be required to maximize the effectiveness of the Agro-climatology work

which should be an integral part of the agricultural, livestock and forestry work of the division.

Job descriptions are available for these positions but in the immediate future, it is unlikely that

there will be sufficient resources to support a service of this calibre. It is likely that only one or

two of these positions will be filled. The job descriptions of one of the recently appointed local

staff can be changed to handle the immediate needs for data collection and entry on the computer.

A candidate of the right calibre should receive overseas training and candidates with

suitable qualifications are being encouraged to apply for an Aus AID Scholarship so that they

could complete a basic degree and obtain vocational training in Agro-climatology. There is a

Commonwealth/ State Institute at Toowoomba (in Queensland) which specializes in all aspects

of crop and weather forecasting Agricultura) Production System Research Unit (APSRU).

Also in Toowoomba is the Queensland Centre for Climate Applications (QCCA) which has

conducted considerable research, development and extension aimed at improving farm

management of climate variability. Both institutes have developed a range of computer based

decision support systems to better manage climate risks and opportunities. In Canberra there is

CSIRO and. CRES with links to the Australian National University (ANU). It is impo an that a

liaison be developed with these institutes so that best use can be made of the climate/ rain data

being collected as well as the historical data already available. Some long-mid range seasonal

predictions for East Timor can be developed by combining rain probabilities with SOI

information.


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There are compelling arguments for using Australian expertise in the establishment and

application of an agro-climatic network in East Timor. Both countries agricultural activities are

conducted under extreme climate variability.

For something like 50 years Australian Researchers have been at the fore-front of:Weather forecasting in the Southern Hemisphere

Simulation Modeling of Agricultural and Ecological Systems

Studies of Long-range Forecasts related to SOI and El Nino

Manufacture of Meteorological Equipment.

The outputs from their research are now widely used in agricultural and eco-system

management and decision support in many parts of the world.

With overseas training, a candidate of the right calibre could supervise the operation of

an Agro-climatic unit within East Timor Agricultural Affairs Division. The service could be

expanded as resources become available and staffs are trained locally to use agro climatic data as

part of their normal agricultural activities.

The agro-climatology section would be responsible for:

(i) Monitoring food security in the districts as the seasons unfolds.

(ii) Predicting yield potential of new and existing crops on different soils in the agro-climatic

zones.

(iii) Predicting yield potential and water requirements of irrigated rice.

(iv) Providing an irrigation scheduling service for a range of crops and locations.

(v) Monitoring the development stages of crops from different sowing dates and preparing crop

specifications for existing and new crops and enterprises.

(vi) Providing training to other agronomists and field staff in. Monitoring crop development and

crop water balance techniques.

(vii) Supplying climate data summaries to other interested parties

Participative Workshop

The main objectives of the participative workshop held on the 25 September were:

(i)To reach consensus on the number and location of stations

(ii)To gain a better understanding of the importance of climatic data


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(iii)To introduce the concept of defining soil and climate specifications for agricultural

enterprises and their allocation to agro-climatic zones and soils

The first morning session explained the ARPAPET Agro-climatic zones and their

implications. Session two outlined some of the main points relating to the terms of reference and

the logic for selection of locations. The workshop divided into two discussion groups to considerthe suitability of the locations and other issues raised.

As a result of these discussions, it was agreed that a further five rainfall stations be

included in the first tier main climate network. The logic for the selection of these stations is

outlined in Section 8.1 of this report.

Concern was expressed at the meeting that donor finance for the new equipment may not

become available until early in the 2001 - 2002 financial year. Hence the request for basic rain

gauges already referred to. When the standard equipment for the proposed new network becomes

available, these gauges could usefully be deployed to more remote agricultural communities

which have not been included in the first tier primary climate and rainfall recording network.

The workshop also agreed that it was important that the exact sites of the Climate

stations (10) and Rainfall stations (35) should be negotiated as soon as possible.

The afternoon sessions outlined the importance of climate and soil data. East Timor staff

of Agricultural Affairs had been selected to lead discussion on Soil and Climate Specifications

for selected Crops/ Enterprises in the four sections of Cash Crops, Food Crops, Livestock, and

Forestry. They then allocated those enterprises to the six agro-climatic zones.

Following the Workshop, a Note for a Future Cabinet Meeting was prepared for the

Director of Economic Affairs Department (Mr Mari Alkatiri). On the 27 October, a Proposal for

Restoration of the Agro-climatological/ Meteorological Network was submitted to the Donor

Coordination Unit.

Report on Restoration of Meteorological Network - Timor Loro Sae

1. Introduction

East Timor is located in an area subject to the Southern Oscillation and `El Nino' weather

patterns which can produce severe droughts as well as flooding. Monitoring local rainfall is

critically important for cropping advice to farmers, for the establishment of an early warning


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system for food security issues and for disaster relief planning. Demands for historical and

current climate/ rainfall data will also come from industries involved in solar and wind turbine

power plant design and from engineers involved in road, bridge and irrigation development.

Prior to 1975 there was a network of some 67 rain/climate stations located throughout

Timor Lorosae? During the Indonesian occupation some stations were upgraded and others

became inoperative or were moved to other locations (WB - JAM Report, 1999). Most of theequipment has been destroyed or lost during the traumatic events in late 1999.

Reestablishment of an adequate climate recording network can be justified as a priority:

(i) Climate and rainfall data from all districts of East Timor are required to make crop

productivity forecasts on a monthly basis as the crop seasons unfold.

(ii) Comparing current rain data with long term averages from each recording site will enable

food security in each district to be monitored.

(iii) Current rain data and evaporation estimates are needed for the Tactical scheduling of

irrigation requirements for rice and other crops using FAO computer programs or programs

developed locally.

(iv) Current and historical rain and climate data on a central data base will be available for

Strategic planning for new and existing crops, environmental catchments management

programs and engineering design for roads, bridges and solar/ wind turbine power generation.

For those given the responsibility of planning and supporting agricultural/ forestry/

livestock production this equipment is an essential tool - not a luxury. With training the data

collected together with soils data will give those concerned a much better understanding of the

systems (crop, livestock, forestry) and how those systems can be manipulated to give reliable

productivity and environmental sustainability.

2. Terms of Reference

2.1 Survey meteorological stations assessing damages

2.2 Submit comprehensive damage status report


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2.3 Conduct one participatory workshop, involving ETAVFFA (East Timor Agricultural,

Veterinary, Forestry, Fishing Advisory Group) nationals and UNTAET, the outputs from

which would forro the basis for policy recommendations

2.4 Present draft policy guidelines to UNTAET, including recommendations in the following

areas:

Number of weather stations in East Timor

Urgent restoration or replacement of equipment, including costs

Specific meteorological data recording required with current subsistence agricultural

farming systems in mind and data required for monitoring food security situation and

water reserves

Establishment of a basic meteorological data network

Feasibility study for an automatic data recording and transmitting network of agro-

climatology and agro meteorological stations including budget for equipment and supplies,

staffing and training needs.

3. Availability of Historical Data

A Portugese report (Servico Meteorologico Nacional, 1957) summarised the mean

monthly temperatures for 19 locations and rainfall for 38 locations up to 1955. Six of these

locations (Ainaro, Barique, Dili, Hatolia, Liquica, Manatuto) had recorded temperature for more

than 20 years and these stations together with the following seven stations had rain records for

more than 20 years (Baguia, Fatuberlieu, Ossu, Same, Uato-Lari, Venilale, Viqueque).

Table 1 sumarises information from a Portugese report O Clima de Portugal Provncia de

Timor (Servio Meteorolgico Nacional, 1965).

Prior to 1950 (WW I 1914 - 1918; WW 1I 1939 - 1945) the first stations were started in

the 1914 -1916 period and at first rainfall only was measured. The table below gives the dates at

which temperature and in some cases humidity measurements were commenced at 42 locations.

Most recordings ceased around 1941 or earlier during WW II.

The table also lists 54 stations which were reestablished around 1952 -53 mostly as full

climate stations measuring rainfall, temperature and humidity. Stations which measured only

rainfall in the Post 1950 period were Aileu, Barique and Laclubar while Hatolia and Raimera


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ceased to operate. Most of the climate stations took three observations per day (08.00, 14.00, and

16.00) until Dec 1962 and then reverted to one observation per day (08.00).

Fatu - Besi took one observation per day for the complete period of records. Evaporation

measurements with the Piche Evaporimeter commenced at Ainaro (Jan 1953), Fatu- Besi (April

1952) and Maubisse (Oct 1959). These are all areas associated with coffee production. The tableincludes information on locations and dates when records of radiation (through measurement of

sunshine hours), wind speed and direction were commenced. Atmospheric pressure was

measured at Dili from September 1952, Fazenda Algarve from March 1953, Los Palos from

January 1955 and Zumalai from January 1955. The Portugese records ceased when Indonesia

took control in 1975.


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Messrs Larsen and Simpson of the Aus AID BARDEP Project recovered some of the -

records collected by the ARPAPET and BARDEP projects from 1993 - 1999. An inventory of

this data is available in Appendix I.

The data recovered includes daily records for 33 stations over the 52 74 periods

(Table 1 - Appendix I). No records were recovered for Aileu, Barique and Laclubar which

measured only rainfall in the post 1952 Portugese period.

Monthly summaries by years are available for 61 stations for varying periods post 1952

(Table 2 - Appendix I). There are further daily and monthly summaries available for 31 of the 42

stations in operation during the 1914 - 41 periods (Table 3 - Appendix I).


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There are some discrepancies between the reported records from the 1965 report and

some of the data recovered eg. Aileu was reported as recording only rain from January 1953 but

Summaries recovered for the 55 - 74 period included some other elements. Additional stations

were also added after 1965 so that the total number of locations involved at some time in the

Portugese era was nearer 68. Stations not listed in Tables 1 & 2 include:

Ai Fu (Ermera), Man Coco (Atauro), Be Suco (Sth coast Manatuto), Caissake (S.A.B.H.),Gleno (Ermera), Natarbora ( Sth coast Manatuto), Quiras ( Sth coast Manatuto), Ue Berec (Sth

coast Manufahi), Ue Laluho (Sth coast Manufahi). Most of these stations were in operation for

less than 6 - 8 years.

Some hourly temperature, humidity, rain, barometric pressure and wind speed &

direction data covering the 51 - 77 periods were recovered for the airports of Baucau, Dili,

Oecussi, and Viqueque (Table 4 - Appendix I).

Very little Indonesian daily data or summaries were recovered. The maximum period for

which records would be available is approximately 70 years (1916-41; 1953-75; 1975-98). A

quick assessment of the information collected during the Portugese and Indonesian eras,

suggests that more than 50 years data should be available for some fifteen to twenty locations.

There should be up to forty stations with more than 25 years data particularly rainfall.

Approaches are being made to obtain more complete records (including daily rain

records) from Indonesian and Portugese sources. Since the initial report was prepared, monthly

rainfall averages and yearly totais have been obtained for 58 locations (including those in the

previous tables) via the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin (Appendix VII). This data differs

from the data in the RePPProT reports its origin and years of record are yet to be confirmed.

4. Climate Timor Loro Sae

4.1 Factors Determining Rainfall Patterns

Boyce (1998) summarises the main factors determining the climate of Timor Lorosae and

presents some illustrative charts from Robequain (1955). Timor lies at 8 - 9 south of the

equator. During the Northern Hemisphere Winter (October to March) the suns rays are directed

south of the equator - Central Asia is a cold high pressure zone and the southern continent of

Australia is a hot low pressure zone. The low pressure zones are described in technical terms as

Inter Tropical Zones of Convergence (ITZC) or the Equatorial Trough. The Monsoon winds

generated by these pressure gradients flow from the North East towards the equator but become

the North West monsoon on crossing the equator. As they flow across Indonesia towards East

Timor they intercept winds blowing north from the southern ocean and heavy rainfall is

precipitated where this occurs (See Figure 1). Timor north of the main mountain block is in the


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rain shadow of the islands of Flores, Solor, Alor and Wetar so that relatively more rain falis

south of the main mountain chain during the monsoon season.


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During the April to September period, the sun's rays are directed north of the equator and

the reverse process occurs with the low pressure ITZC moving from the Southern to the


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Northern Hemisphere. Winds from cold high pressure areas over Australia flow from the south

east accumulating moisture as they cross the Timor Sea and bring reliable rain to the arcas south

of the main range. Areas north of the mountains are again in a rain shadow and receive very little

precipitation during this period.

As well as the North - South Air-mass movements in tropical regions there is an East -

West Air-mass movement. As early as 1897, a meteorologist discovered an inverse relationshipbetween pressure anomalies at Buenos Aires and Sydney - when the pressure is above average in

Sydney it will be below average in Buenos Aires. This inverse pressure relationship is referred to

as the Southern Oscillation. It is now known that the Southern Oscillation is associated with a

very cold ocean current which flows along the South American Pacific coast towards the equator.

This cold ocean surface leads to a high pressure air mass which flows westward absorbing heat

as it travels over the warmer waters of the western Pacific, until it reaches the Indonesian region

where it rises to form vast clusters of thunderstorms producing heavy rain.

The strength of the Southern Oscillation is measured by the Southern Oscillation Index

(SOI). In theory, this is the difference in mean sea level barometric pressure between sites in the

South Pacific subtropical high-pressure region and the Australian-Indonesian low pressure

region. In practice, the index is calculated by subtracting the mean monthly pressure anomaly at

Tahiti from the mean monthly pressure anomaly at Darwin. Rainfall over Australia and the

islands to the north is strongly correlated to the siga (positive or negative) and the strength of

there anomalies. The pressure anomalies are persistent lasting for several months and tending to

reach maximums (- or +) from October to November and to break down from March to April.

With experience gained over the last ten years, the SOI has become a reasonably reliable method

of forecasting seasonal rainfall in Australia and the islands to the north. The SOI has a range of

plus or minus 30 units.

Closely related to the Southern Oscillation is the phenomenon of El Nino. The term

refers to a warm ocean current which flows south along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru

each year during summer when the south-east trades are at their weakest. It sets in just after

Christmas in most years and hence the narre El Nino - `the child'. Usually this very shallow

current of warm water travels to about 6 S but in years when the south-east trades are

exceptionally strong the warm waters may extend as far south as 12 S. A marked El Nino event

such as this corresponded to severe droughts in Australia and South-east Asia in 1982-83.

4.2 General Climatic Features


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Rainfall is not equably distributed even in wet months and intensity varies considerably.

Twenty-four hour rainfall totais of up to 458 mm have been recorded on lowland sites in West

Timor and twenty-four hour totais of up to 800 mm or 50% of the annual rainfall may occur

unrecorded in mountainous areas of Timor (Crippen International, 1980).

Appendix VII lists twenty-four hour rain totais exceeding 250 mm for 14 locations. Most

of these events occurred in the December March period particularly in Northern locations butDili recorded 275 mm in May. In the Southern locations, many of the high daily rain totais were

recorded in the May August period. The two highest twenty-four totais were 604 mm at Oe-

Silo (Oecussi) in December and 509 mm at Soba (Laga) in February.

The information on rainfall intensity and reliability needs to be verified but some generalizations

can be made.

Rainfall intensity is usually greatest during the North West Monsoon (December - March)

period.

In the southern areas, the rain during the South East Monsoon (May - July) period is

usually less intense but more reliable than in the December - March period.

Rainfall is generally more reliable at the higher elevations above 500 metres but even

here dry periods occur which can stress coffee and reduce yields of coffee and other crops.

Rainfall is least reliable in the dry northern areas where dry periods can cause crop stress

and even crop failures.

Tropical cyclones occasionally develop from semi-permanent troughs of low pressure in

the Arafura and Banda seas and move in a southwesterly direction, especially during April and

May (Monk et al, 1997). No tropical cyclones have been recorded in East Timor over the last

decade but during late January 1993; over 400 houses were damaged or destroyed in East Timor

by very strong winds (Jakarta Post 29 January 1993).

The Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin has provided maps showing the individual tracks

of three cyclones which could have affected East Timor. While none of these cyclones actually

crossed the Timor coast there is an area of gales surrounding a cyclone which could have

affected the coastline. In April 1991 Cyclone Marian moved in a south westerly direction some

distance off the Timor coast; in December 1983 Cyclone Esther moved in a southerly direction

off the eastern end of the island; in April 1973 an unnamed cyclone moved south westerly

between Sulawesi and the islands of Wetar, Alor and Solor and then turned south to cross the

middle of Flores it is reported that 1500 people perished and many boats and buildings were

destroyed.


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Diurnal temperatures reach a maximum between noon and 3 PM and decrease slowly

after sunset to reach minimums just prior to sunrise. The largest variation in diurnal temperature

(up to 13 C in East Timor) occurs during the South-east Monsoon season with relatively dry

winds and clear skies. The smallest diurnal temperature fluctuations (7 9 C in East Timor)

occur during the North-west Monsoon season which brings moist winds and increased cloud

cover (Fenco Consultants, 1981).In contrast to diurnal fluctuations, the maximum, minimum and mean monthly

temperatures at any one site may vary by only 1 - 3 C throughout the year (RePPProT, 1989b).

Minimum temperatures usually occur during July or August and maximum temperatures during

October and November. Laga at 120 metres above sea level has recorded some of the highest

mean monthly Maximum temperatures (35 C) while the lowest mean monthly Minimum

temperatures are recorded at higher elevations : 13.4 C at Ainaro (809 m asl) and 14.4 C at

Ermera (1160 m asl). Altitudinal differences in mean temperatures in East Timor are illustrated

in Figure 2 - mean January temperatures may vary between sites from 20 C to 31 C and mean

July temperatures from 17 C to 25 C. Crippen International (1980 c) recorded the absolute

maximum temperature of 37.8 C at Naibonat in West Timor. The absolute minimum

temperatures were 2 5 C at Hatu Builico (1900 msl) and 3.8 C at Gleno (770 msl). Some

long term temperature averages are also included in Appendix VII.

4.3 Climate Classifications

There are larger between-year variations in annual rainfall in the Seasonal or Dry Tropics

than there are in the Humid Tropics (Monk et al, 1997). The distribution of rainfall within the

year has a greater influence on vegetation and crop production than the total amount of rain

received. Various authors have tried to characterize the climate zones of Indonia and East Timor

based on wet and dry months. The most commonly used Indonesian climate classification is that

devised by Oldeman et al (1980) who classified climates according to the number of dry months

(average less than 100 mm per month) and the number of wet months (average more than 200

mm per month). Not all locations can be classified clearly by this method. The Oldeman

approach classifies on average monthly rainfall alone. Locations with quite different rainfall

patterns can often be in the same Oldeman classification eg Maliana with Los Palos and Liquica

with Natarbora.

Also, the Oldeman scheme does not take into account the lower temperatures and

humidity with increasing altitude. Temperature and humidity are important considerations in

matching crops to optimum growing conditions. Examples of the Oldeman climatic

classifications for some East Timor rainfall stations are shown in Table 3.


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Table 3. Examples of Oldeman (1975) Climate Classification for East Timor

5. Agro-climatic Zones of East Timor

5.1 Rainfall Patterns in East Timor

There are two distinct rainfall patterns which have an important impact on crop suitability and

cropping patterns:

Northern Monomodal Rainfall Pattern: The main feature is a 4 - 6 month wet season with

one peak usually in the December to February period. This is the pattern at most locations on the

northern side of the mountain divide which traverses the island from west to east tapering off to

an extensive plateau in the east in Lautem district.

Southern Bimodal Rainfall Pattern: This is characterized by a 7 - 9 month wet season

with two peaks in rainfall - the first in the December to February period and the second in the

May to June period. This pattern is typical of the southern side of the divide where rain bearing

clouds from the south and south east drop most of their rain on the southern slopes of East Timor.

The Monomodal and Bimodal rainfall patterns are illustrated in Figure 3 which gives the mean

monthly rainfall graphs for Maliana and Lolotoi (Opa). These two locations are only a short

distance apart but Maliana is on the Northern side of the range and Lolotoi on the Southern side.

5.2 Influence of Altitude

The general results of an increase in altitude are:

(i) An increase in low cloud, rainfall and wind velocity.

(ii) A decrease in direct radiation due to cloud

(iii) A decrease in temperature (maximum temperature more so than minimum temperature) and

hence lowering in ambient temperature


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Generally, rainfall increases with increasing altitude in most locations in Timor Lorosae,

especially on the northern side of the mountain divide. In the south, the wettest locations appear

to be between 500 - 1000 m in altitude (eg. Lolotoe and same) but their locations relative to

nearby mountains and valleys may also influence their rainfall. In some locations above 1000 mwhere mist and light drizzle contribute to the rainfall total, annual rainfall actually decreases

slightly.

In mountainous areas, the direction the slopes face (aspect) influences rainfall. In the

north, places situated on northerly and westerly facing slopes are likely to receive more rain than

places on southerly or easterly facing slopes. In the south the opposite applies with the southerly

and easterly slopes being likely to receive more rainfall. Some places such as Aileu are in a "rain

shadow" with water-laden clouds being intercepted by surrounding mountains which receive the

largest part of the precipitation.

Average temperatures also decrease with increasing altitude. At the equator, air

temperature drops at a lapse rate of 5.2 c per 1000 metres increase in height over undisturbed

oceans (Oldemann & Frere, 1982). Over land, the decrease in temperature shows more variation

due to diurnal heating and cooling of the land surface and seasonal differences at higher latitudes.

Boerma (1946) found a monthly variation in lapse rate of 6.1 to 6.4 C for maximum

temperature and 5.1 to 5.5 C for minimum temperature for a number of Indonesian centres. For

the island of Lombok in Eastern Indonesia, the Lombok Island Groundwater Investigation

Report (ELC, 1987) suggested a lapse rate of 5.7 C per 1000 metres for mean temperature

which is not at variance with Boerma's analysis. The equations of Boerma can confidently be

used to calculate changes in temperature with elevation at elevations above 200 m but at lower

elevations results are erratic. Crippen International (1975b) studied altitudinal changes in

temperature in Lombok and found a 5.7 C per 1000 m lapse rate up to 700 m and 5.5 C lapse

rate above 700 m. For New Guinea McAlpine and Keig (1983) found the following lapse rates:

Maximum Temp. 5.3 C (Max = 32.77 - 0.0053 X Elevn.)

Minimum Temp. 5.1 C (Min = 22.054 - 0.0051 X Elevn.)

Mean Temperature 5.2 C (Mean = 27.37 - 0.0052 X Elevn.)

So firstly, there is an average mean temperature lapse rate of about 5.5 C per 1000 m

increase in altitude. Secondly, there is usually more cloud cover as altitude increases. A

secondary agro-climatic factor is lower evaporation at reduced temperatures and higher humidity.

This means that a given amount of rain will last longer and have a more significant effect on

plant production. .


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Table 4 summarises some mean Temperature data noted during preparation of this report and

supports the lapse rate data summarised above.

5.3 Micro-climate Effects

The importance of microclimate effects on ecological systems and agriculture/ forestry

enterprises cannot be over-emphasised. It has already been pointed out that aspect as well as

elevation can cause marked differences in rainfall patterns in the mountainous terrain of East

Timor. Similarly temperatures are frequently higher on the north facing slopes than they are on

the south facing slopes. As explained above the temperature decrease with elevation (Adiabatic

Lapse Rate) is usually around 0.5 C/ 100metres or 5.5 C/ 1000 metres. However temperatures

in valleys and on plateaus within the mountains can be up to 5 C lower than predicted by the

lapse rate because cold air drains from the surrounding high peaks and ponds in the depressions

(H Nix, personal communication). In Northern Thailand at elevations of around 1200 metres


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temperatures at dose to the same elevation may vary by up to 9.4 C due to these microclimatic

effects (K Chapman, personal communication).

5.4 ARPAPET Agro climatic Classification

The Agricultural Adviser on the first phase of the ARPAPET project analyzed theavailable historical rainfall and climatic data (ARPAPET, 1996) to develop a simple but

effective agro-climatic classification of Timor Lorosae based on the factors elaborated in the

previous section. The six agro-climatic zones provide a very good conceptual basis for

discussing agricultural problems and opportunities.

The six zones are based on rainfall (totais and distribution) and altitude which also acts

as a surrogate measure of temperature and other microclimate effects on plants and animals.

Figure 4 based on data from Java (PROSEA, 1994) illustrates the importance of altitude

(temperature) on crop selection for maximum productivity.

The altitude contours from which Figure 5 is developed are based on those provided by

the National Agency for Lands (BPN) and the Land Resources Evaluation Project II (LREP)

which included the 100 m and 500 m contours. The main reasons why these contours were

chosen as boundaries between the agro-climatic zones are:

a) The driest locations in the province are mostly in coastal lowlands and valleys of the

main rivers and most of these are between sea level and 100 m altitude.

b) The wettest locations are mostly above 500 m which is also the approximate upper limit

for coconut and cashew trees and the lower limit for coffee trees in East Timor.

The land areas within these altitudinal ranges are:

0 - 100 m 313,756 ha (21 %)

100 - 500 m 641, 608 ha (44 %)

> 500 m 505,574 ha (35 %)

Total area1,460,938 ha

Monomodal Rainfall Patterns (NW Monsoon)

A. Northern Lowlands - Coastal land and valley floors below 100 m.

Av. Annual rain < 1000 mm

4 - 5 Month Wet season Nov. March

B. Northern Slopes - Land in northern hills between 100 - 500 m.


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Av. Annual rain 1000 - 1500 mm

5 - 6 Month Wet season Oct - March

C. Northern Highlands - Land in northern hills and mountains above 500 m

Av. Annual rain > 1500 mm

6 - 7 Month Wet season Oct - April


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Bimodal Rainfall Patterns (NW Monsoon & SE Trades)

D. Southern Highlands - Land in the southern hills and mountains above 500 m

Av. Annual rain > 2000 mm

9 Month Wet season Nov - April; May - July

E. Southern Slopes - Land in southern hills between 100 - 500 m.Av. Annual rain 1500 - 2000 mm

8 Month Wet season Nov - April; May - July

F. Southern Lowlands - Coastal land and valley floors below 100 m

Av. Annual rain around 1500 mm

7 - 8 Month Wet season Nov - March; May July

Field inspections during the dry months can lead to the perception that the climate is

semi arid. The semi arid appearance is due more to the vegetation which is a consequence of

poor soil fertility and low water holding capacity rather than insufficient rainfall alone.

Within each of these Zones it is important to map soils of particular villages or

catchments which are the focus of agricultural activities. Most of the flat land has the deepest

and most fertile soils - Northern and Southern Lowlands. The Southern Lowlands have the

greatest development potential but distance from the major centres is a marketing constraint.

The least fertile soils are within the Northern and Southern Slopes although there are

many places with good soils in these two zones. Due to the steep slopes and lack of stable

vegetative cover on leached soils of low fertility, these zones pose the greatest erosion threat.

Most of the mountainous terrain is too steep for arable agriculture and should be confined

to forestry and agro-forestry activities. To achieve this aim subsistence farmers accustomed to

long established swidden agriculture on slopes up to 45 will need to be provided with alternate

lands and farming systems.

The areas in hectares of each agro-climatic zone in each district are listed in Table 5.

At some time in the future when more complete climate and soils data have been entered on the

agro-climatology data base it should be possible to develop a more detailed agro climatic

classification of East Timor using GIS mapping techniques. These maps will only be useful if

the basic data used to develop them is confirmed with field transects and field surveys. In the

mean time, the six agro-climatic zones defined by the ARPAPET project provide a very good

conceptual framework for discussing agricultural problems and opportunities.


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6. Agricultural Implications of Agro-climatic Zones

6.1 Fitting Crops/ Enterprises to Agro-climatic Zones

Low temperatures do not place constraints on agricultural productio n except in the

highest farming lands in the Ainaro and Maubisse districts where frosts sometimes occur. On the

other hand, these elevated lands with cool temperatures and low humidity provide idealconditions for coffee and many temperate fruit and vegetable crops not usually grown in the

tropics eg. wheat. Some areas are subjected to stronger winds than others towards the end of the

North West monsoon season but this is not a widespread constraint.

Provided soils and terrain are suitable, Table 6 indicates the crops which can be grown in

each agro-climatic zone.

The first step is to detail crop/ tree/ livestock specifications and then to allocate

enterprises which are suitable to each agro-climatic zone. These specifications include climate

related factors (radiation response, optimum & critical temperatures for growth, temperature and

day length development response, rain requirements) as well as soil related factors (non limiting

& potential root depth, texture, drainage, p I-I, salinity response).

Based on the climate related factors crops/ enterprises can be allocated to the Agro

climatic zones. Soil specifications can then indicate the locations in each zone which are suitable

for specific enterprises.


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Table 6. Suitability of Main Crops/ Enterprises to Agro-climatic Zones of East Timor 6.2 Present

Agricultural Enterprises by Agro-climatic Zones

A. Northern Lowlands

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize, cassava, beans and pigeon pea

Tree Crops - lontar palms, coconuts, cashews

Livestock - cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry

B. Northern Slopes

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize, cassava, long beans, pigeon pea, peanuts, sweet

potatoes, pumpkins, mono crops of peanuts

Tree Crops - coconuts, candle nuts


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Livestock - cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry

The 500 metre contour forms the upper limit for coconuts and cashews and the lower limit

for coffee.

C. Northern Highlands

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, taro, beans, pumpkins,

mono crops of red beans and peanuts

Tree Crops - coffee, candle nuts

Livestock - cattle, buffaloes, goats, pigs, poultry

D. Southern Highlands

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize or upland rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, taro,

beans, pumpkins, mono crops of red beans and upland rice in the second rainy season.

Tree Crops - coffee, candle nuts, areca nuts

Livestock - cattle, buffaloes, pigs, poultry

E. Southern Slopes

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize (or upland rice), cassava, sweet potatoes, beans,

pumpkins, second crop of upland rice (or maize) followed by mung beans as a relay or

third crop.

Tree Crops - coconuts, candle nuts, areca nuts


F. Southern Lowlands

Food Crops - mixed crops of maize, cassava, beans, peanuts and pumpkins, second

crop of upland rice (or maize), followed by mung bean as a relay or third crop (all in non

irrigated land)

Tree Crops - coconuts, areca nuts, cashews



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6.3 Future Agricultura) Opportunities

All Agro-climatic Zones In all six zones (considering that it is largely subsistence

agriculture) there is scope for increased variety and volume of vegetable and fruit production

from household gardens as well as egg and chicken meat production. The increased volume and

diversity could supplement family nutrition as well as providing cash income from the closestmarket. Inspections during 1997-98 of south coast transmigration areas occupied by farmers

from East Timor and various parts of Indonesia provided good evidence of the diversity and

quality which can be achieved in house gardens.

Northern Lowlands have greatest potential for increased egg and chicken meat

production especially in villages closest to major centres - there is a premium on the local

Kampung chicken and eggs. Sorghum is a possible source of alternate chicken feed and sesame

is another alternative crop.

Food crops can be grown between coconut or cashew rows or the space can be used for

grass and legumes for animal feed. There is probably a limited market for high quality coconut

oil extracted in small - scale village extractors and the copra industry needs to be revisited. Goat

and sheep numbers could be increased in this zone based on tree legumes (lamtoro, gamal,

Centro) and stall feeding. To avoid environmental damage, this program would need to be

closely monitored to ensure that the increased numbers are not allowed free range. The dangers

of increasing feral goat, cattle and pig populations need to be considered in all livestock

activities and control measures introduced.

At present, the bulk of the potential irrigated area (17,000 ha) is in the Northern

Lowlands with a smaller area in the Northern Slopes Zone. These irrigation areas need

rehabilitation and in some cases possible expansion.

Northern Slopes have potential for peanuts as a mono crop in fertile red and black soils.

Again, there is scope for goats fed in stalls with tree legumes. Cashews which are best suited to

climates with 1000 - 2000 mm and a dry season of 4 months could be developed in this zone in

Home yards and hill side crop land.

Other possibilities are: mung beans as a relay crop after maize on more fertile soils; red

onions where dry season water is available.

Northern and Southern Highlands: Coffee is the most important crop at present and the

only real agricultural export earner for East Timor. Much can be done to improve production,

quality and marketing. Coffee could be incorporated into an expanded agro forestry program

targeting timber, honey and beeswax production in addition to coffee.


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A wide range of vegetables and fruit suited to cool highland conditions could be

introduced for income generation. Suitable temperate vegetables with or without irrigation

include cabbages, carrots, green peas, beans, lupins, potatoes, onions (red and white), garlic,

mint, canna. Red beans which are the main source of protein for most rural Timorese are most

suited to areas above 750 metres and are a vital component of highland farming systems. Carrotsand garlic have export opportunities. Mandarins and citrus could be targeted to well drained soils

and avocadoes, durian, and rambutan which prefer cool, wet climates should also be considered.

Apples and grapes could be grown. Candle nut gives best results at between 300 - 800 metres

particularly on alkaline (limestone) soils in hilly areas too low for coffee. Rainfall is generally

more reliable above 500 metres but dry periods which stress coffee and reduce yields do occur.

Fresh water fish in ponds and rice fields should also generate income in this zone, where

ample water is available.

Southern Slopes: Mung beans could be introduced as a late season mono or relay crop.

Cassava could be used more widely for feeding pigs particularly if high yielding varieties were

introduced. Cassava processing factories have also operated in the past in this zone (eg. Same).

Cattle and buffalo numbers could be increased in this zone provided adequate fodder is provided

and herds are controlled to avoid environmental damage.

Southern Lowlands: At present only 20 % of the potential irrigated area of approximately

17,000 ha is in the Southern Lowland and Southern Slopes Zones. Because of the better rainfall

distribution and totais in the southern zones, it would be expected that production from irrigation

could be increased in there two zones, especially the Southern Lowlands. Irrigation facilities

(intakes and canals) need to be improved and availability of buffaloes or tractors for land

preparation is also important.

Mung beans as a late season mono or relay crop and peanuts in mixed and mono crops

could be encouraged. Cattle numbers of small landholders could be increased with increased

fodder resources for cut and carry fattening as long as environmental and crop damage is

minimized. Another possibility is cashews in well drained land.

6.4 Seed and Cultivar Supply and Sourcing

While many of the varieties presently being grown are well adapted to the conditions and

requirements of East Timor, there could be a case for the introduction and testing of improved

varieties and cultivars of new untried crops, vegetables, fruit and tree crops.


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Until recently the farmers of East Timor have largely maintained their own seed and

planting material supplies. Some of there supplies have been lost or destroyed, so no w is an

opportune time to establish a group responsible for seed and cultivar supply and sourcing.

An FAO program is addressing supply of quality rice and maize seed but there is an

urgent need for a program to screen improved cultivars of vegetable, fruit and root crops. It may

be possible to tap into the cultivar improvement programs developed in the Pacific Islands

Introduction of high yielding industrial cassava varieties is needed

There is also potential for improved cultivars of existing and new horticulture) tree crops:

citrus, avocado, rambutan, durian, salak, markisa, apples, grapes, Pete, macadamia etc. Other

crops being suggested are: nutmeg, cloves, vanilla. Farmers should be encouraged and trained to

raise there own seedlings of trees such as candle nut instead of relying on government or NGO

agencies.

6.5 Agro climatic Requirements of Specific Crops

Setting up a data base of crop/ tree/ livestock specifications should be an important role

of the Agro-climatology unit. These specifications should include soil requirements and climate

requirements for present and potential new enterprises. This was explained at the Participative

Workshop which broke up into four groups to discuss specifications for a selection of enterprises

in Food Crops, Cash Crops, Forestry and Livestock.

Candle nut gives best results at between 300 - 800 metres particularly on alkaline soils in

hilly areas too low for coffee.

Cashews are best suited to dry climates with 1000 - 2000 mm rainfall and with a dry

season of at least four months. Yields from trees in East Timor have been very variable

reflecting variations in genotype, management (especially planting too Gloze with consequent

susceptibility to insect and fungal disease), soils and climate. Nevertheless cashews have

considerable potential - they require minimal inputs, fit into existing farming systems, have

strong international demand and high value per kilogram, a useful attribute if grown in isolated

places. Goats can be grazed under mature trees but for successful establishment of cashews and

candle nut the slow growing seedlings need protection from livestock and fires.


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6.6 Agronomic Support

Crop Nutrition

Crop nutrition and fertilizer needs are other topics which need some attention. It may be

some time before the basically subsistence agriculture can afford unsubsidized inorganic

fertilizers and industries such as coffee which is being marketed as organically grown are keen

to restrict the distribution of inorganic products. The use of organic composts should beencouraged but some inorganic fertilizers and trace elements may be necessary for specific crops

and specific soils. On the volcanic soils of Indonesia, some trials on irrigated rice have shown

little response to any elements other than Nitrogen. It is quite possible that there could be

responses to Potassium, Phosphate and other elements on the marine based sediments of the

Eastern Islands.

Irrigated Rice

The immediate aim should be to make East Timor self sufficient in rice, through

improved irrigation and agronomic management as well as better processing facilities to improve

quality. Once the per hectare production of rice is increased, expansion of irrigation of other

crops and vegetables should be considered.

Soil and Water Conservation

In all zones but particularly in the Slopes and Highlands, the main food and tree crops as

well as fodder trees and grasses should be planted in an appropriate soil and water conservation

farming system eg. Contour banks with lamtoro and gamal and alley cropping with fodder trees

and grasses.

Agricultural Support Services

A well trained and mobile agriculture) service needs to link in with community

empowerment programs to establish needs, problems and opportunities on a village by village

basis. NGO, Church and other community groups could be trained and supported in follow up

activities. Other supporting services as well as food security forecasting and crop/climate

analysis include, Soil and Land Use Mapping and Agricultura) Data Base Establishment.


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6.7 Factors in Decision Making

Key Questions

In planning the development or expansion of agricultural and forestry enterprises, the key

questions which must be satisfied are:

a) Is the crop/enterprise well suited to the agro-climatic zone?b) Will it fit into or compliment the farmers existing farming systems and cropping calendars?

c) Is there a sound and established market for the produce either inside or outside East Timor?

d) If marketing is a problem can the produce be consumed within the local family or community

with benefit to diet and nutrition?

e) Will the crop/enterprise have a detrimental effect on the environment?

Main Constraints

a) Physical - Natural Resource Constraints

- Climate - particularly insufficient rain

- Soils - poor fertility, shallow depth, poor water holding capacity topography - steep erosion

susceptible land

- Limited water availability for irrigation

a) Social Constraints

- Subsistence orientation of farmers

- Farmers lack of education and information

- Traditional beliefs and customs

- Attitude to risk

- Health - inability to carry out heavy manual field work

- Land tenure

- Unstable security in some areas

a) Economic Constraints

- Lack of market demand

- lack of traders and marketing arrangements low and fluctuating prices

- transport difficulties and costs

- Lack of inputs and cost of inputs

- Lack of credit facilities

- Lack of animals or tractors for land preparation


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A program may be unsuccessful if the above Key Questions and Constraints are not

taken into account. A number of programs during the Indonesian occupation were unsuccessful

because they did not have full support and ownership from the local farming communities.

7. Survey of Meteorological Stations

Over a period of seven weeks surveys were conducted in 10 of the 13 districts of EastTimor. Planned visits to Covalima and Bobonaro were postponed because of security concerns

and transport difficulties. Oecussi was given a lower priority after inspections in the other

districts found no operational equipment. A planned weekend visit by boat to Atauro Island did

not eventuate.

The purpose of the survey was to:

(i) Ascertain the condition of any existing stations and equipment

A full report on 60 Portugese stations (including those in Covalima, Bobonaro, Oecussi

and Atauro) is given in Appendix II. Possible future contacts for locating new stations are given

where possible. Very little equipment or evidence of climate recording facilities were found. The

most complete enclosure was at Fatu- Bessi (Ermera district) but all the equipment was non

Functional Anemometers had survived at Aileu, Dili Airport (Indonesian Station), Dili Port, and

Fatu Bessi but they would need to be recalibrated. The Australian Meteorological Observers

Handbook (1954) suggests that anemometers (indicating 3 cup type) should be taken down for

inspection, cleaning and oiling at approximately 3 month intervals. It can be concluded that there

is no functional or serviceable equipment remaining and that a complete set of new equipment is

required.

A hand held GPS (Garmin) was used to check latitude, longitude and elevation of most

locations inspected. An instrument of this type should be very useful in obtaining the coordinates

and elevation of the locations where new equipment is installed. The Portugese coordinates were

given in degrees and minutes but not seconds. Without seconds, it is only possible to relocate

sites within +- 926 metres (1 = 60 nautical miles, 1 " = 1 nautical mile = 1852 metres).

(ii) Ascertain the accessibility of sites in operation during Portugese era (Figure 6)

In the 10 districts surveyed, thirty eight of the forty eight Portugese locations were

accessed by Four - Wheeled Drive Vehicle. The remaining ten locations (Alas, Atsabe, Barique,

Boi Bau, Fatu Berliu, Fazenda Olivia, Iliomar, Lahane, Letefoho, and Turiscai) were not

accessed because of road conditions, time restrictions or security risks. Fazenda Olivia and


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Lahane are part of Dili district. With the exception of Alas and Barique all these stations were

recording only rain in the post 1950 Portugese era. In many cases local information was obtained

on accessibility of these sites.

Notes were taken on travel times and distances to important villages and road junctions.

This information which is presented in Appendix III should assist in working out time schedulesduring construction of security fencing and installation of new equipment. Many of the roads are

narrow with sharp blind curves. The surfaces are badly broken up in places and landslides during

the next wet season are likely to cause further problems. Accessibility and road conditions were

taken into account in locating new equipment.

(iii) Ascertain the suitability of locations for crop forecasting

General observations of the agricultural activities in various areas together with

information collated during the ARPAPET Project (summarised in previous sections of this

report) were also taken into account in allocating new equipment.

8. Recommendations Climate Network - Number of Sites and Locations

8.1 Number and Locations

The number of restored sites should be within future East Timor budget and staffing

limitations but at the same time should provide sufficient information for reliable food security

and crop productivity predictions in the main cropping areas.

It is recommended that ten fully automatic solar powered climate stations (measuring

rainfall amount and intensity, temperature, humidity, radiation, wind speed and direction) be

installed at representative locations which already have some historical records. A program is

included in the climate station modules to automatically calculate Penman evaporation from the

other measured data.


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It is recommended that one station be located within each of the Agro-climatic Zones.

The following locations are suggested:

Northern Lowlands Dili Airport - near existing equipment in front of control tower

Northern Slopes Dare - On church property as Gloze as possible to old location

Northern Highlands Maubisse - Close to present Portugese army base

Southern Highlands Ainaro - Site to be selected but within old coordinates

Southern Slopes Same - Site to be selected within old coordinates

Southern Lowlands Betano - Tractor service centre used by Father Tan

These locations are readily accessible from the main road south of Dili and with the

exception of Betano have reasonable historical records. Rainfall was collected at Betano from

Jan 1957 - Oct 1962 and there should also be records from the Indonesian era - it should be

representative of the Southern Lowlands. The elevation of same is just above the 500 metre limit

but it should provide representative data for the zone and should be readily serviced.


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Additional climate stations are recommended for:

Fuiloro - as representative of the Los Palos plateau - Located at Fuiloro agricultural college

Baucau - Airport

Suai - Airport

Oecussi - Airport

This makes a total of 10 Automatic Climate stations with the four Airports having

additional equipment (Wind Speed and Direction at 10 metres, Ceilometers, Visibility meter,

and power cabling to Control tower). More recent information from the Bureau of Meteorology

indicates that Ceilometers are expensive and not very robust. It is suggested that observations on

cloud height and type be taken manually by trained observers.

In November, the East Timor Civil Aviation Authority submitted a proposal to the Donor

Coordination Unit for replacement of the automatic climate stations at Dili, Baucau and Suai

airports (see Appendix VIII). If this proposal is successful, the budget allocated for these stations

in the Agriculture Division proposal can be diverted to the provision of Automatic stations in

additional strategic agro-ecological zones. The Participative Workshop suggested that every

district should have an Automatic station but stations should be sited to cover a range of agro-

ecological areas.

The placement of further automatic stations could be considered in the future when it has

been shown that the initial stations are operating satisfactorily.

It was recommended that a further thirty (30) locations (in addition to the automatic

stations) should be equipped with standard manual rain gauges. This number was increased to

thirty five (35) following the participative workshop. The workshop identified a number of

regions which were not adequately covered by the proposed network. Two of the extra rain

recording locations (Lissadila and Cribas) were not part of the Portuguese or Indonesian network.

Lissadila was selected to represent the extensive Loess river valley in west Liquica. In the

Manatuto district, Cribas was selected to represent the Northern slopes and Natarbora (site of

previous Agricultural School) was selected as a further location on the important South coast

BENAVIQ (Betano, Natarbora, Viqueque) zone in districts of Manufahi, Manatuto, and

Viqueque.

In Lautem district Iliomar was selected to represent the Southern slopes and Lore further

east should be moved from the Portugese location on the coast to Lore II on the Southern slopesas a location more representative of cropping/ forestry enterprises. Lautem was selected to

represent the Lospalos plateau between 100 - 200 metres.


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Depending on the satisfactory operation of the 10 automatic stations and the proposed

new network, some of these manual rain gauges could be converted to automatic rain recorders

in two to three years time. Protective fences could be built for the manual rain gauges from local

materials with local labour - this would avoid the costly logistics of employing contractors as is

recommended for the climate station security fencing. The automatic equipment includes solarpaneis that are a greater security risk than the manual gauges.

Table 7 and Table 8 list the recommended locations for rainfall and climate recording

sites in the Northern and Southern Agro-climatic zones respectively.


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The villages of Uato-Lari and Lacluta were moved closer to the coast during the

Indonesian era - the new altitude is given with the old altitude in brackets.

8.2 Selection of Sites

At each location, sites need to be selected to give correct exposure of the instruments.

The exposure of an instrument is its position in relation to the air and the objects around it. An

instrument is well exposed when it accurately registers the properties of the air unaffected by

immediate surroundings. It is then said to be representative of the air over a certain area. This

means that its measurements are typical of the area and not affected by local obstructions.

Instruments should be sited where the observations are representative of a wide area that

is similar to the cropping or forest areas where the data will be used. Frequently it is not

convenient to locate climate stations or rain gauges in the middle of a cropping area (eg rice

paddies) and some compromise is necessary so that the instruments will be reasonably accessible

to the observer - this is particularly important for manual rather than automatic equipment.


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Measured rainfall will not be representative if the gauge is placed under a tree, or beside

a post or wall - the obstruction will exclude rain that should have fallen into the gauge or perhaps

add rain that should not have fallen into the gauge. Another bad exposure is at a site where there

is a local disturbance to wind, such as on top of a roof, on a fence or near an embankment or

escarpment. In such positions wind blowing up or strongly across the gauge will deflect the

raindrops. The effects of bad exposure can easily amount to 10 percent and may be much higher.OBSTRUCTIONS SHOULD BE DISTANT FROM GAUGES OR AUTOMATIC CLIMATE

STATIONS BY AT LEAST FOUR TIMES THEIR HEIGHT. So if there is a tree or building which

is 10 metres high at the location under consideration, the equipment would need to be installed

40 metres away from both the tree and the house.

8.3 Security Fencing

Specifications have been drawn up for security fencing for the 10 Automatic Climate

Stations (Appendix IV) and quotations have been sought from Dili International Contractors for

inclusion in the budget estimates. A minimum enclosure of 9 metres square is recommended.

It is recommended that fencing of the remaining rainfall sites be carried out by the local

communities using local materials. A small community allowance has been allocated for this in

the budget but there is no provision for observer allowances as all recurrent/ operating costs

should be met by the East Timor administration.

8.4 Guidelines for Negotiating Site Tenure and Observers

The participative workshop agreed that the exact sites of the Climate stations (10) and

Rainfall stations (35) should be negotiated as soon as possible. Until such time as an East Timor

Agro climatology counterpart is appointed District Agricultural Officers will have to take full

responsibility for site selection and negotiation. Guidelines for selecting suitable sites are

outlined in Section 8.2.

First priority should be given to the Automatic Climate Stations and some notes on each

location follow:

Dili Airport - near existing equipment in front of control tower but preferably not in line

with control tower so that Southerly influences will be recorded. The Airport Authority (Mr Bill

Townsend) and possibly PKF (David Pasfield) should be contacted.


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Dare - On church property as gloze as possible to old location behind church; the contact person

is Father Pe. Santana Rogue Pereira.

Maubisse - Close to present Portugese army base

Ainaro - Site to be selected preferably within old coordinates but negotiable

Same - Site to be selected preferably within old coordinates; original Portugese site may have

been on knoll with Portugese buildings overlooking town but a site within The townproper or on the outskirts of the town proper would probably be more representative of

the surrounding country

Betano - Tractor service centre used by Father Tan

Fuiloro - On church land at the Fuiloro Agricultural High school - contact person Father Jose

Baucau - At airport but preferably in open country to one side of control tower

Suai - At airport near control tower

Oecussi - At airport near control tower

Contact persons and other information for the proposed rain locations visited during the

survey are given in Appendix II.

Once a suitable site has been determined, the District Agricultura) Officers will need to

negotiate land tenure through local village communities. Officers of the Land and Property

Division in Dili suggested that discussion should be initiated through the Chefe do Suco (Kepala

desa). Others who should be involved are Church officials (particularly if the site is on Church

property), long term school teachers and community leaders.

In some cases individuals may come forward who lay claim to the ) and in question. If

they have documentation (Hak milik) the site may need to be moved to community owned land.

The Land and Property Division considered that local communities generally have clear

knowledge of rightful ownership.

To ensure local ownership of the program, it is recommended that a manual rain gauge

be installed at the Climate stations as well as the other rain recording sites. Again, it is expected

that the District Agricultural Officers will select suitable observers for sites in their district after

discussion with local community officials. Suggestions for observers at some sites are

Restoration of Meteorological Network (2000)

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