Timor-Leste

The total irrigated area of the country was about 72 159 ha until August 1999 when pro-Jakarta militias destroyed most of the infrastructure of the country, including irrigation and water supply systems. Since October 1999, rehabilitation works supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been reconstructed a part of the damaged rice watering systems [TL01]. According to an inventory compiled for the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 [TL02], 33 698 ha of irrigation schemes were functional in year 2005. Area equipped for irrigation per district was derived from this inventory and it is visible in the table below, also downloadable as Timor-Leste irrigation areas in PDF or Timor-Leste irrigation areas in Excel.

Irrigated rice fields were digitized from a map published as part of the Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 [TL02].

Irrigation water in most of the irrigated rice areas is mainly extracted from rivers and reservoirs [TL02], which is also in accordance to the situation in neighbouring Indonesia. Based on this information, percentage of irrigated area from groundwater sources was estimated at 2%. Area actually irrigated was 28 907 ha in year 2002 [TL01].

References

[TL01]: FAO. 2011. AQUASTAT country profile of Timor-Leste, version 2010. FAO, Rome, Italy.
[TL02]: Democratic Republic of Timor Leste. 2010. Draft of the RDTL Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030. http://www.laohamutuk.org/econ/SDP/SDPDraft.htm, 26/11/2010.