Electrification in post-conflict Timor-Leste: Opportunities for energy services to enhance rural agricultural development

Timor-Leste, in Southeast Asia, emerged from decades of conflict in the late 20th century to become an independent nation in 2002. A key focus for the new nation has been to improve energy access via the rapid roll-out of an electricity network. However, Timor-Leste has seen little improvement in its (predominantly subsistence) agricultural sector, and its food security situation remains precarious. This Perspective paper aims to elucidate the influence of Timor-Leste's improvements in electricity access on its national development outcomes and how these may be enhanced, with a particular focus on rural agricultural development. Semi-structured interviews with key institutional stakeholders revealed that the electrification program was implemented through a ‘top-down’ approach, focussed on improving social cohesion rather than engaging rural landholders to modernise agricultural practices. Using the Energy Services Cascade framework, several mechanisms have been recommended to enhance energy services used in irrigation, agricultural mechanisation and post-harvest processing. These include the establishment of village energy committees; providing lending and subsidies for agricultural equipment; and supporting women's involvement in agriculture and energy services. In addition, the wider use of the Multi-Tier Framework should be considered to better understand the community-level energy access situation. More broadly, the findings emphasise that electrification programs in post-conflict reconstruction should have strong community engagement to fulfil the potential of electrification to enhance development outcomes.