Resumo: A agricultura em Timor-Leste é de natureza familiar e um modo de vida para as populações rurais, que são a maior parte da população. O objetivo deste trabalho é medir o bem-estar dos agregados familiares tendo como principal indicador o rendimento disponível, com base em atividades produtivas, reprodutivas e comunitárias, as quais são centrais à organização e ao funcionamento das comunidades rurais timorenses. A metodologia utilizada para representar o funcionamento dos agregados familiares é a programação linear etnográfica (PLE), que permite testar políticas, tecnologias, alterações reprodutivas e mudanças das normas sociais comunitárias, explorar os respetivos resultados e prever as consequências para o futuro dos agregados familiares e das comunidades rurais. Os resultados mostram que os agregados familiares com explorações agrícolas de pequena e, em alguns casos, também as de média dimensão, nas condições atuais, não geram rendimento suficiente para níveis de consumo e bem-estar acima da linha da pobreza. Alternativas de apoio ao rendimento, como o apoio direto ao rendimento, são possíveis, mas dependem dos recursos disponíveis para a sua implementação, enquanto, em médio e longo prazo, o aumento da área das explorações afigura-se uma opção mais válida para quebrar o ciclo vicioso da pobreza.

Abstract: Agriculture in Timor-Leste is family-based and a way of life for the rural population who are most of the population. The objective of this work was to measure the well-being using as the main indicator the disposable income, considering not only productive activities but also reproductive and community activities, which are central to the organization and functioning of East Timorese rural communities. The methodology used to represent the functioning of households was the ethnographic linear programming (ELP), which models allowed to test policies, technologies, reproductive changes and changes in community social norms, as well as explore their results and predict the consequences for the future of households and rural communities. The results showed that households with small farms, and in some cases also medium-sized ones, under current conditions do not generate enough income for levels of consumption and well-being above the poverty line. Alternatives of income support, such as direct income support, are possible but depend on the resources available for their implementation, while in the medium and long term the increase in holdings area is a more valid option to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

The livestock species play very important economic and socio-cultural roles for the wellbeing of rural households, such as food supply, source of income, asset saving, source of employment, soil fertility, livelihoods, transport, agricultural traction, agricultural diversification and sustainable agricultural production. The aim of this work was to identify and characterize the different roles that livestock and livestock species play in rural communities of Timor-Leste, highlighting the importance of animal production for the wellbeing and rural development, and relate the functions performed by livestock production with economic, social and cultural attributes of the communities. The data used in this study were collected in 2011 through a questionnaire survey in three rural communities in the district of Bobonaro, namely in a mountain area, an irrigation plain and a coastal zone, and were complemented with secondary data. Livestock production in Timor-Leste is predominantly familiar being chickens, pigs, goats, cattle, horses, buffaloes and sheep the main species. Beyond the economic function, each livestock species also performs social and cultural functions.