A Food Forest for Timor

The people of Noemuke have been hard at work - with much enthusiasm: With your support, the community has planted an incredible +25,000 trees since November 2021.
The first step to create an abundant food forest for future generations.

This is the soil we’re regenerating in Noemuke, a small village in Timor (Indonesia). Climate change is already very real here: Dry spells have become longer than usual. And they are followed by heavy rainfall that washes fertile top soil away – leaving behind this mix of gravel and clay.

It’s hard to farm on this kind of land – and to grow nutritious food. To this day, Timor has one of the highest incidences of stunting in Indonesia. Children literally stop growing because they lack basic nutrition.

A New Sense of Hope:

Together with our partners, SukkhaCitta, Co2operate and Yayasan Besi Pae, we have planted 25,000 Glircidia sticklings – the first step to transform the area into an abundant food forest.

The local trees grow relatively fast, don’t need much looking after and are naturally avoided by rodents and other pests. Their main function is to stabilize the soil, allow it to store more water and provide cover for more crops to grow in the future.

In essence, these trees are the pioneers that pave the way for the community’s food forest :)

To grow the glircidia trees, the community plants sticklings all over the area - which take root and grow leaves within a few days.

The Trees are only the Beginning

Over the next couple of years, a rich diversity of food and commodity crops will follow - nourishing the people of Noemuke and creating new economic opportunities for them.

One example: organic cotton! These babies are already the second generation of the non-GMO seeds we donated back in 2020. As you can see, they thrive in Noemuke and provide additional income to local farmers:

Organic cotton is thriving in Noemuke. It can be processed by local weavers and will later also be sold to other communities across Indonesia.

Looking Ahead

There is still a lot of work to be done. More potential crops need to be identified and tested. And we hope to increase the size of the area from currently 14ha to 50 by the end of the year.

But the good news is: The 25,000 trees that have already been planted are growing fast and strong - and many more will follow. Making Noemuke green again - and providing nourishment for generations to come.

To learn more about this project or make a donation, click here.