Irrevocably linked with poverty is the decline in food security in Timor-Leste. In the absence of policies to assist them, farmers are too poor to upgrade their equipment, maintain irrigation or even to purchase seeds. The country lies in a region known to be particularly sensitive to the unpredictable impacts of El Nino and climate change. This combination of factors in 2007 caused a reduction of 30% in cereals and 20% in rice production; in West Timor yields are believed to be down as much as 50%. The country is in any event nowhere near self-sufficient in food and therefore exposed to increasingly expensive imports. 46% of children are assessed to have stunted growth due to malnutrition. The World Food Programme has projected that over 200,000 people, 20% of the population, will need assistance in the "hunger" months leading up to March 2008.

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