Zero Hunger Challenge: National Action Plan for a Hunger and Malnutrition Free Timor-Leste.

The National Action Plan for a Hunger and Malnutrition Free Timor-Leste is a national plan with a sectoral approach, covering the period 2015–2025. The plan aims at ensuring: a) equitable access to adequate, nutritious and affordable food; b) zero stunted children less than 2 years of age; c) sustainable food systems; d) increase in smallholders’ productivity and income; e) zero loss or waste of food.
In the context of the National Food and Nutrition Security Policy (NFNSP) and the National Nutrition Strategy (NNS), this Plan recognizes the right to Food and aims to guide the efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in all their forms. Measures will be taken especially for people living in poverty, women, children and rural dwellers to have more diverse and more secure entitlements to food. As a twin track approach, emergency food stocks will be established and regional and sub-regional cooperation will be strengthened for enhancing food security. In order to stabilize food prices, excessive price volatility will be prevented and appropriate and adequate market and price information and monitoring systems will be established and promoted. Maternal, infant and young child feeding practices and coverage of routine micronutrient supplementation will be improved. Improved access to health care services will be promoted especially for rural residents. Access to water and sanitation facilities and hygiene interventions will be improved. Establishing standards for all farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives, governments, farmer unions and civil society will ensure the sustainability of the Timor-Leste food and nutrition culture and systems.
The plan promotes the increase of extensive and intensive production of animals and fish and cultivation of cereals, other staple crops, fruits, vegetables will be promoted. The use of livestock and indigenous crop varieties that are adaptable to pests, drought and floods will be promoted too. Natural resource management and more efficient use of irrigation and water resources will be promoted.
The document aims at eradicating rural poverty. Farmers, fishers, pastoralists’ organizations and groups, including women’s and youth groups will be supported, strengthened and empowered. Measures will be taken to improve the income of smallholders. To this end, employment opportunities will be supported. Participation of different groups of people, including socially marginalized groups, women, children, smallholder and poor farmers particularly in advancing local level decision-making and actions wıll be supported.
The plan also aims at enabling more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems. In this context, public and private partnerships will be promoted for farmers to increase their access to agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other planting materials, poultry, animals and fish fingerlings. Further measures concern equipment; access to financial services, credit and insurance.
Disaster risk reduction and management capacities will be enhanced at all levels. In order to ensure food and nutrition security, coping mechanisms to handle climate variability will be adapted and developed.
The Ministries of Agriculture and Fisheries, Health, Finance, Commerce, Industry and Environment, Education, Public Works, State Administration, Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Social Solidarity are working under the structure of the National Council for Food Security, Sovereignty and Nutrition (KONSSANTIL). One of the first tasks of KONSSATIL will be to set up and provide guidance to the Technical Permanent Secretariat and the Technical Working Group to design the organizational mechanisms for coordination, planning, budgeting and implementation of the National Action Plan.