In Timor-Leste, there are many farming groups who grow various crops but producing quality and high value crops such as strawberries is an issue as there are very limited plants and technical knowledge. In 2016, the USAID funded Avansa Agriculture imported around 10000 strawberries plants and distributed to farmers in Ululefa Maubisse, Ainaro.

With AVANSA’s technical support, the Ululefa farmers were able to succeed with the strawberry production, but keeping the business going and sustainable was difficult due to very limited access to market.

“The main problem for farmers is not only how successful their crop is, but how to access the market. The technical and physical effort that goes into farming is redundant if farmers cannot access to markets. They need to be able to generate profits from their products.” says Jose Miranda, a 32-year-old finance and marketing manager for Laledu Berrymatak, a co-operative company that supplies fruits and vegetables from farming groups in Ululefa Maubisse, Ainaro to Dili.

“At Laledu Berrymatak, we want to connect Ululefa farmers to market, so that they are the primary beneficiaries of their production. Knua Juventude’s services has enabled us to consolidate our business structure and link us to market.” says Jose.

At KJFL, Jose learnt about various topics including marketing and business administration and was able to connect to a various supermarket. Jose has also used KJFL’s facilities such as a laptop and internet connection to grow the business and enable communication and connections to other farmers. Thus, Laledu Berrymatak started buying from farmers and selling to supermarket in November 2017.

A supermarket who works with Laledu Berrymatak provided a truck through a credit scheme to enable transportation of crops from Maubisse to Dili. There are now two ongoing deliveries from Maubisse to Dili per week. Laledu Berrymatak has also been registered on the e-market platform www.filaliman.tl and products have been sold at Knua Centre’s market stalls on three occasions, promoting Laledu Berrymatak’s products.

Laledu Berrymatak’s main goal is to continue to establish links along the supply chain. Their focus is on expanding networks between farmers and supermarkets to establish partnerships that enable the co-operative to expand and benefitting the farmers.

Laledu Berrymatak has been extremely successful. In 2017, the first operations transported 6 or 7 crates of strawberries per delivery from Maubisse to one supermarket in Dili. In April 2018, 24 crates of strawberries along with other products were transported to over five supermarkets in Dili in one delivery. Increased were both the number of products sold and the range of products sold.

The total number of farmers groups in Ululefa who contribute their products has also increased. In November 2017, there were 20 in four groups contributing their products. Now, there is a total of 72 farmers made up from 11 different groups of farmers contributing and benefitting from the co-operative. Laledu Berrymatak is supported by both the local and national governments, including receiving a Certificate of Excellence from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in April 2018.

‘Our model and plans are to expand. We hope in the next month to engage farmers in Ermera who are producing high quality vegetables. We want to seize as many opportunities as we can, so that we expand the number of farmers receiving greater financial incomes and access to markets” says Jose.

Laledu Berrymatak is uniquely focussed on increasing the capacity of farming groups to receive a fair and substantial share of the product profits. The revenues are predominantly redistributed to the farmers as payment for product supplied, and all remaining funds going to other investment and business costs. Laledu Berrymatak is giving the opportunity to farmers in Timor-Leste to turn their land into real incomes through effective market access.