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| Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA and the Environment |
 Home Overseas Projects Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA and the Environment Projects
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA in East Timor
Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has also been involved in agricultural projects within East Timor. Knua Buka Hatene (KBH) is the local partner organisation in East Timor whose vision is to create a society based on equality, justice, solidarity, prosperity and progress.
KBH is involved in community education which places an emphasis on participation by those attending their courses and aims to increase East Timor's self sufficiency and sustainability. The programmes KBH has implemented are varied and include sustainable agriculture, production of organic fertiliser, literacy and vocational skills training for women, carpentry and mechanical training, blacksmithing to assist farmers to make their own tools and small business initiatives.
Sustainable agriculture is important as it does not disrupt local social and cultural networks, is suited to local weather and environmental conditions and financial needs of the population and is better suited to cope with potential biological and environmental threats. Environmentally, sustainable agriculture does not over exploit the environment or soil. It permits soil regeneration (by various methods) returning minerals that are removed from the soil, maintaining soil productivity for the future. Socially, sustainable agriculture meets individual family's food needs with a surplus remaining for sale and economic gain with the possibility of future reinvestment. Sustainable agriculture also makes profitable use of labour.
Blacksmithing courses have been useful in teaching East Timorese skills in producing the necessary farming equipment to make agriculture sustainable. Blacksmiths, in turn have trained farmers to make and maintain ploughs, made from simple material such as wood and a metal blade. Farmers have small farms and cannot afford large tractors, fuel or equipment which is expensive or difficult to fix. Training also included using the plough and oxen correctly and effectively, how to select suitable oxen and best combination of animals to work in pairs. Use of oxen instead of tractors removes the pollution output from petrol based equipment such as tractors. These projects involving sustainable agriculture in East Timor have had positive social and environmental outcomes.
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