Lack of quality storage facilities is fueling food shortages in Timor Leste, IRIN reports. Oxfam Country Director Paul Joicey explained that while the food shortage is a multi-faceted issue, having better storage facilities would help mitigate the problem. The local U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization office in said that approximately 30 percent of the country’s annual maize harvest is lost in storage. FAO added that it is already producing household-size silos and selling these to farmers at subsidized prices, but thousands more containers are needed to address the problem.
Increasing the public’s trust in Timor Leste’s police force is a goal of the country’s U.N. Police Commission. U.N. Police Commissioner Luis Miguel Carrilho explained that the local police made significant progress since it was created 10 years ago, but gaining the community’s trust remains a challenge, and key to his team leaving the country.