Tractor Blessing Cultural Ceremony
The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mariano Assanami Sabino, joined the several “lia nain” (traditional timorese authority, conflict and justice mediator, “word owner”) from five sub-districts of the Lautem district, in a cultural ceremony for the blessing of 45 tractors that were delivered to farmers at the old Central Market in Los Palos.
This ceremony marked the delivery of these tractors and the beginning of their use, the blessing is a symbolic act in the sense that it helps farmers to use these machines in an efficient and effective manner, in order to reach the intended objectives.
For the Minister, “the ceremony preserves tradition and is based on our culture, as the faith in God, that encourages us to work the land and to transform a piece of waste land into an arable and productive land to thus foment our independence”.
Mariano Sabino considered that this is one of the opportunities for the country’s development, since the majority of the population lives from agriculture. According to the Minister, besides the oil revenues, agriculture is one of the sectors with income for the Timor-Leste economy and for that there is a need to stimulate and encourage the population to look after the land and see it as a benefit.
Also in his speech, the Minister pointed out three important factors in what concerns the farmers’ capacity building: the performance of their duties with efficiency, the development of agriculture in phases (in three phases: support to the farmer, his capacity and as a sustainable farmer) and the development of agriculture products.
After the ceremony, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries visited the Centre for Machinery Maintenance and the fish nurseries in Motolori, Los Palos.
