Dr. Maria Odete do Céu Guterres | Timor Leste

Dr Odete is Director General of Agriculture for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Timor Leste, responsible for the strategic direction, vision, and the development of agricultural sector, particularly the general management of agricultural tasks including crop production, horticulture, extension and irrigation.

 As a senior professional staff for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries with almost 20 years of agricultural professional experience, Dr Odete is known for the following tasks:

-       Developing strategies and processes to foster policy and strategic change, ensuring rigor in policy and strategy development, implementation and review processes for the agriculture sector.

-       Supporting the Minister while managing matters with high levels of political interest and public visibility, including highly sensitive issues that impact on the community, the economy and the agricultural development.

-       Providing strategic policy, program and legislative advice and information on a wide range of agricultural development

-       Work cohesively as part of the executive management team, coordinate activities and ensure mutual needs are met and also involved in the negotiation with international development partners (FAO, WFP, ACIAR, IFAD, IFPRI) and NGO’s for the cooperation in agriculture development.

-       Ensure a constructive and collegiate leadership approach and exchange of views and information to contribute to an effective leadership group with a corporate and departmental-wide perspective.

-       Involved in several agricultural researches including the development of organic cashew in Timor Leste.

Dr. Odete holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Agriculture from the Charles Darwin University, Darwin-Australia, Master of Tropical Environmental Science from the Charles Darwin University, Darwin-Australia and a Bachelor in agronomy from Akademi Farming Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia.