East Timor: Aquaculture Feasibility Study

The United States Agency International Development (USAID) Country Development Cooperation Strategy 2013-18 for Timor-Leste includes "Inclusive economic growth accelerated in the agriculture sector" as an intermediate result and two sub-intermediate results: i) improved ability of citizens of Timor-Leste to engage in the private sector and ii) increased productivity of selected agriculture value chains. In consideration of those objectives, the USAID Mission in Timor-Leste requested an assessment of the economic opportunities presented by aquaculture.

The assessment includes analysis of: a) the current status of the aquaculture sector (production and productivity); b) potential markets linkages for Timorese aquaculture products; and, c) the potential for domestic feed production. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis is used for each aquaculture type (mariculture and marine fisheries, freshwater aquaculture and brackish water aquaculture) to identify fish products most suitable for further development in Timor-Leste.