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Abstract
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.