Over the last two decades, Timor-Leste received a total USD 3.55 billion from the DAC donors with the annual average of USD 197.4 million (Table 1). In a relative term, the total amount disbursed to Timor-Leste accounts for 0.2% of the ODA that the DAC donors contributed to all developing countries during the study period. For the Timorese 310 (agriculture, forestry, and fishery, all combined), the DAC donors disbursed a total USD 216.5 million through 814 individual disbursements (Table 1). The largest support in absolute amount for the 310 came in 2017, accounting for about 12% of the total ODA in that year. Among the 14 donors that supported the 310, Australia and Japan jointly explain over 60% of the total 310 disbursements, followed by USA and New Zealand (Table 1). In comparison, the five smallest donors collectively account for 1%. The dominance of a few donors in the 310 suggests the aid profile of the sector is likely shaped by the priorities or preferences for specific aid modalities of the largest donors.

Table 1. Aid disbursed by DAC donors and details of donor aid in agriculture, forestry, and fishery.

Year	ODA # Total	AFF # ODA	% AFF	No. of AFF Aids	AFF Donor	Amount	% of Donor	No. of Aids	Avg. §
2002	291.65	7.50	2.6	21	Australia	73.70	34.0	191	0.39
2003	194.87	7.06	3.6	20	Japan	57.08	26.4	286	0.20
2004	168.88	4.59	2.7	23	USA	32.53	15.0	101	0.32
2005	202.46	5.26	2.6	27	New Zealand	21.43	9.9	32	0.67
2006	208.23	4.38	2.1	22	Korea	9.53	4.4	87	0.11
2007	242.25	4.42	1.8	32	Portugal	6.85	3.2	29	0.24
2008	230.21	13.01	5.7	49	Spain	6.06	2.8	19	0.32
2009	191.61	11.46	6.0	67	Norway	3.70	1.7	9	0.41
2010	244.31	12.54	5.1	62	Ireland	3.30	1.5	24	0.14
2011	211.22	15.01	7.1	47	Canada	1.65	0.8	15	0.11
2012	183.14	13.90	7.6	51	Germany	0.36	0.2	11	0.03
2013	176.80	17.25	9.8	60	Finland	0.10	0.0 ¶	3	0.03
2014	171.63	13.15	7.7	66	Belgium	0.09	0.0	3	0.03
2015	159.62	18.18	11.4	65	Italy	0.09	0.0	4	0.02
2016	168.84	18.44	10.9	58	Total	216.48	100	814	N/A
2017	165.91	19.54	11.8	46	# ODA: Official Development Assistance, amount in 2018 constant USD million, AFF: Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery, : Number of individual annual disbursements, § Averaged with total amount and aid number on yearly basis, thus not reflect the whole disbursement of a multi-year project, ¶: Due to rounding off
2018	157.86	14.35	9.1	51
2019	184.25	16.46	8.9	47
Total	3553.76	216.48	6.1	814

Within the 310, the 311(agriculture) is by far the most supported sector, 86% in amount and 82% in aid number (Table 2). The 312 (forestry) and 313 (fishery) share each 6% and 8% in the total amount. Across the sub-sectors of the 310, 24 of them are supported, of which the 31120 (agricultural development such as farm development) receives the largest amount or 43%. Following the 31120, the 31110 (agricultural policy and administrative management) receives 10%, and the 31140 (agricultural water resources such as irrigation) 9%. Excluding the 311 and within the 312, the donors mainly support the 31210 (forestry policy and administrative management) whereas within the 313, the 31310 (fishery policy and administrative management) and 31320 (fishery development such as aquaculture) are similarly aided (Table 2). Despite the fact that the country has 706 km of the coastal line and mostly consists of mountainous terrain [21], the donors appear less interested in fishery and forestry. In sum, the donors prioritize development in agriculture with some emphasis on improving relevant policies and administrative capacity. This may be due partly to that the overall institutional capacity of the country is assessed weak to deliver public services and implement relevant policies [2, 17, 22].

The top donors for each the 311, 312 and 313 vary: Australia for the 311, Japan for the 312, and Korea for the 313 (Table 3). The overall largest donor, Australia exclusively supports the 311; the amount Australia disbursed to the 311 accounts for 98% of its total 310 ODA (Table 4). Of the 311 sub-sectors, the 31120 (agricultural development) receives the largest amount, followed by the 31182 (agricultural research), and 31110 (agricultural policy and administrative management). The Australian aid documents state that Australia identified seed shortages as an urgent issue for Timorese food production. Accordingly, it targeted at increasing the distribution of high-yielding seeds for staple food crops and subsequently improving productivity and produce marketability [16, 22, 23]. Based on its strategic priorities in the 311, Australia disbursed over 40% of its total disbursement to the multi-year project called ‘Seeds of Life’; 32 individual disbursements are associated with the project from 2002 through 2016 and receive approximately USD 30 million. Initiated in 2001, the project invested in developing high-yielding crop varieties and facilitating community-based seed systems [24]. At the national level, the project is deemed to have assisted the Timorese government in setting up the national seed system, for which MAF took full responsibility in 2015 [25]. Nonetheless, the project document notes the improved productivity in the basic food crop alone might not be sufficient to address the country’s food/nutrition insecurity. Thus, the following Australian project, called TOMAK includes ‘Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture’ approaches, being planned to run from 2016 through 2021 [26]. Outside the direct support in agricultural production and value chain development, Australia invests a substantial amount in agricultural research, mostly through technical assistance (Table 4). The majority of the 31182 (agricultural research) dusbursement is directed to the projects with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Japan, the second largest donor, also concentrates its support on the 311 or 80% of its total aid (Table 4). In particular, the 31140 (agricultural water resources) receives the largest amount followed by the 31120 (agricultural development). Total 17 disbursements by Japan are reported as the 31140 and the majority of them are linked to rehabilitation or construction of irrigation. Japanese interests in water resources and agricultural infrastructure are clearly indicated in its ODA document and directly related to its prioritized crop, rice [27]. Rice, the staple food crop of Timor-Leste, provides the Timorese with up to 42% of the average calories required [28]. However, due to the limited irrigated areas and low productivity in rice, a large amount of rice is imported from China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam. In 2019, Timor-Leste imported rice worth USD 12.9 million, accounting for 2.4% of the country’s total import [9]. Notably, Japan focuses on technical cooperation. Of 204 aids for the 311, 166 aids are recorded as ‘Technical Cooperation Aggregated Activities’ with the average per-aid disbursement of USD 0.14 million. This average is smaller than the overall Japanese per-aid disbursement or USD 0.2 million. However, reporting the disbursements under technical cooperation limits further examination of them because it does not provide detailed information. In sum, it seems that Japanese aid in the 311 prioritizes improvement in rice production and irrigation systems with provision of relevant technical assistance.

The third largest donor to the 311 is the USA, which focuses particularly on the 31120 (Table 4). Among the aids categorized as the 31120, a multi-year project called ‘Consolidation of Cooperative Agribusiness Recovery (COCAR)’ receives 31% (approximately USD 10 million) of the total amount. The project aimed to raise agricultural productivity, especially for coffee and cocoa through crop rehabilitation, crop diversification and intercropping, strengthen linkages between farmers and markets and increase farm household incomes [30]. Another notable project from USA is AVANSA, which received 21% of the total amount (USD 6.8 million) disbursed between 2016 and 2019. This project targeted to reinforce the Timorese horticultural value chain by increasing horticultural crop production, linking farm households to markets, and promoting relevant policies [31]. Different from COCAR, the majority of the disbursements to AVANSA is reported as the 31110 (agricultural policy and administrative management). However, it should be noted that as AVANSA ended at the end of 2020 with the total budget of USD 19.2 million, its specific budget allocations are not fully available at the moment. As stated in the US Agency for International Development (USAID) 2001-2004 Transition Strategy Timor-Leste, USA began supporting Timorese agriculture with its coffee, which accounts for around 80% of the country’s non-oil export. Yet, the ODA data suggest the agricultural aid from USA gradually shifts from the coffee value chain to the horticultural crop value chain. This shift is also indicated in the recent USAID documents, which emphasize nutrition sensitive agriculture and food security [2, 5]. Furthermore, the Timorese coffee industry likely need less external support than other crops because of the strong presence of the Timorese coffee cooperative, or Cooperativa Café Timor. It is the largest cooperative in Timor-Leste that exercises close to monopolic power with provision of some social services such as basic medical cares under the Café Clinics [29].

Following USA, New Zealand invests over 80% of its aid in the 311. Its focused sub-sector is the 31194 (agricultural cooperatives including farmers’ organizations) (Table 4). In supporting and improving Timorese agricultural cooperatives, New Zealand utilizes two venues; one is co-sponsoring USA’s COCAR and the other is funding a project called ‘IMPACT (Improving Marketing and Production through Agricultural Cooperatives in Timor-Leste)’ implemented by an NGO, OXFAM [31]. Until 2011, New Zealand appeared little visible in the 310 because it disbursed only 3 aids between 2002 and 2010. Yet, with its significant increase in supporting the sector, New Zealand seems to emphasize improving agricultural cooperatives under its stated priority: increase economic and food security benefits from agriculture [32]. Notably though, New Zealand has the largest average per-aid disbursement among the principal donors, due to the smallest aid number. In comparison, Japan carries out its support nine times larger in aid number with three times larger in aid amount than New Zealand (Table 1).

In the 312 (forestry), the majority of the aid comes from Japan, which accounts for 89% of the total amount in the 312 (Table 3). To support Timorese forestry, Japan made 51 disbursements, 50 of which are technical cooperation in the 31210 (forestry policy and administrative management). In the 313 (fishery), the principal donors are Korea, New Zealand, and Norway (Table 3). Korea, the largest donor in the 313, disbursed 95% of its total 313 support to one multi-year project from 2014 to 2019, which is titled ‘Establishment of Education and Training Center for Fishing Industry of Timor-Leste’. Likewise, New Zealand heavily invested in one multi-year project between 2013 and 2019 under the umbrella of ‘Aquaculture Development in Timor-Leste’. Norway that supports only the 313 disburses most of its ODA to the 31320 (fishery development) via two venues, ‘Fishery Cooperation in Timor-Leste’ and ‘Supporting Inland Fishery for Women in Timor-Leste’.

Table 5. Multilateral aid for agriculture, forestry, and fishery.

EU §	Amount #	IDA §	Amount	FAO §	Amount
Sector 311	13.65	Sector 311	1.48	Sector 311	0.30
31110	0.08	31120	1.48	31110	0.15
31120	12.18	Total	1.48	31120	0.02
31163	0.02	UNDP §	Amount	31130	0.02
31181	1.38			31181	0.08
Sector 312	6.11	Sector 311	0.03	31192	0.04
31220	6.03	31130	0.03	Sector 312	0.08
31261	0.09	31150	0.00 ∫	31210	0.08
Total	19.76	Total	0.03	313	0.03
# Amount in 2018 constant USD million, § EU: European Union, FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization, IDA: International Development Association, UNDP: UN Development Programme				31320	0.03
				Total	0.41
311: Agriculture, 312: Forestry, 313: Fishery 31110-Agricultural policy and administrative management, 31120-Agricultural development, 31130-Agricultural land resources, 31150-Agricultural inputs, 31163-Livestock, 31165-Agricultural alternative development, 31166-Agricultural extension, 31181-Agricultural education/training, 31192-Plant and post-harvest protection and pest control, 31210-Forestry policy and administrative management, 31220-Forestry development, 31320-Fishery development, ∫: Due to rounding-off

The multilateral organizations do not particularly prioritize the 310 across the development sectors. During the study period, they disbursed total USD 766.5 million as grant to the 35 different sectors in Timor-Leste, and the 311, 312 and 313 jointly account for only 3% of the total, or USD 21.7 million. Across the sectors, the 210 (transport and storage), 122 (basic health), 151 (governance and civil society general), and 430 (other multisector) are the highly supported ones, together explaining 63% of the total amount. The multilateral organizations thus appear to lean towards public-service sectors. While the multilateral grant for the 310 is small in absolute amount, the 311 is dominant over the 312 and 313.

Four multilateral organizations support the 310: European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Development Association (IDA) and UN Development Programme (UNDP) (Table 5). Yet, EU contributes over 90% of the total 310 aid, remotely followed by IDA, FAO, and UNDP in that order. The European Union mainly supports the 311 (69%) and the 312 (31%) with a particular interest in two sub-sectors, the 31120 (agricultural development) and 31220 (forest development). Among the 311 aids made by EU, a multi-year project from 2012 through 2016 receives about 50% of the total EU aid for the strengthened Timorese agricultural extension systems. Different from EU, which carries out all project-type aids, IDA implements its ODA as sector-specific budget support and FAO appears more interested in technical assistance including training, and research-relevant activities. Overall, EU shapes the aid profile of the 310 among the multilateral organizations and appears to emphasize the agricultural extension systems.