This paper’s working hypothesis is that the indigenous farming practices of Timorese farmers are those most suitable and adaptable with regard to these farmers’ circumstances. Intensive farming and the acceleration of land conversion in Java lead to a reduction in favorable cropland and the degradation of soil biology. To meet the demand for food production, unfavorable areas outside Java, including marginal semi-arid areas on Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara province, have become an important option. Unfortunately, the national crop production policy has paid less attention to the specific biophysical characteristics of the region and how local people have adapted to the diverse marginal environment. We review the literature in the areas of soil nutrition retention and soil biology, vegetation/crop diversity, and farming practices/management, including local wisdom on soil management. This paper highlights that the values of the chemical parameters of the soils in question are varied, but generally range from low to high. The existence of beneficial micro-organisms is important both for improving soil fertility and due to their association with local vegetation/crops. Traditional farming practices, such as the local agroforestry of Mamar, have effectively preserved the existence of micro-organisms that promote conservation practices, crop/vegetation diversity, and sustainable agriculture. We recommend that the expansion of croplands and crop production into marginal semi-arid areas needs to be considered and adapted while taking into consideration sustainability and environmentally sound traditional practices.

The existing farming in Oebelo Village was a mixed farming. Farmers grow corn once a year in the rainy season, with beans, cassava, onion and pumpkin. Livestock keeping varied between farmers, including cattle, goat, pig, and local chicken. The introduction of Clitoria ternatea opened a new horizon of farming and a new source of income and forage. By integrating Clitoria ternatea farmers were able to: (i) improve corn productivity performance, (ii) receive additional income from selling forage and seed, and (iii) obtain high-quality forage source to feed livestock (goat, pig, and chicken). In 2019, farmersplanted Clitoria ternateaon 0.25 ha after harvest of corn (in February) and sold 30 kg of clitoria seed at 30-35 thousand rupiahs/kg, and feeding forage as additional feed portion to chicken and pigs. In 2019/2020 farmersplanted 3.13 ha, either in monoculture or in a relay, and sold 168 kg of Clitoria seed at 30 thousand rupiahs/kg. In early 2020 the farmers started to raise goats, and also keep on feeding the forage to chicken and pigs. Farmers noticed an improvement in the corn plant performance on the plot previously planted with Clitoria, and harvested more corn grain without even fertilized.

Cattle and corn are important for small farmers in west Timor. However, owing to the lack of proper technologies, marginal lands and erratic rainfalls, productivity of both are low. To improve the productivity, a conservation agriculture approach was demonstrated during 2017-2019 at Camplong II village, on a marginal land with shallow top soil, rocky formation, with existing corn production of <1 ton/ha. The technology package in 2019, includes: (i) hedges of Leucaena leucocephala (planted at 2 m within the row and 4 m between the rows), (ii) Deep planting hole (40 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm) filled with mixtures of soil and cattle manure, (iii) planting of grass within the rows of Leucaena, (iv) cover crop legumes: cow pea, Clitoria ternatea, and Mucuna holtonii while using corn stover and cattle refusals as mulches. Forage was obtained from Leucaena and the grass, while herbaceous legumes were left uncut. The results include: (i) year round supply of high quality forage, (ii) improved the daily weight gain of fattening cattle (0.2 to 0.3 - 0.6 kg/head/day), (iii) reduced calves mortality down to 0%, (iv) and increased corn yield to 5 ton/ha and a second crop harvest as green corn.

A series of experiments on techniques and time of sowing, and weed management of legumes Clitoria ternatea cv Milgarra, Centrosema pascuorum cv Cavalcade and cv Bundey, and Lablab purpureus cv Highworth, was conducted in East Nusa Tenggara (in the islands of Timor, Flores, and Sumba) in order to determine proper technique and time of sowing and weed management, which would be efficient in labor use and sufficient biomass production. Treatments of sowing techniques included dibble, furrow (covered and not covered), and broadcast (harrowed and not harrowed); while sowing time consisted of early wet season (December-January), mid of wet season (February-March) and the end of wet season (April-May), while weed managements consisted of weeded and unweeded treatments. The experiments employed block randomized design with four replications using plot sizes of 3 x 4 m to 4 x 5 m, depending on the availability of land for the experiments. The results of the experiments showed that the best sowing technique with the highest plant population at 4 weeks after planting was dibbling (42 plants/m²), followed by furrow, while the lowest plant population was obtained at the broadcast technique (9-20 plants/m²). Similarly, the highest biomass production was obtained in the dibbling technique (1.75 to 2.5 tons DM/ha per harvest at 12 weeks after planting in Ende, and 4-5 ton DM/ha in Nagekeo), followed by furrow technique covered or not covered (1-1.3 tons DM/ha in Ende and 3.5-4 tons DM/ha in Nagekeo), and the lowest in broadcast technique (0.3-1 ton DM/ha in Ende and 2-2.5 ton DM/ha in Nagekeo). However, considering the labor requirement and cost, it was recommended that furrow technique to suit the small farmer practices in the region. Weed management showed that weeded treatment (keep legume cleaned of weeds) gave significantly better (P0.05) biomass production compared with to that of unweeded treatment. It can be seen also that weed had more suppressing effects on Clitoria ternatea, compared to that of Lablab purpureus, especially when the plants were sown in the early wet season.