Australian researchers will head to East Timor to teach local specialists how to protect much-needed crops from disease and pests amid a food shortage.

Lack of food is threatening to destabilise the troubled nation, with the World Food Program (WFP) estimating a production shortfall of 30 per cent in staple grains.

A severe shortage of rice in February this year raised concerns, and the WFP believes up to 220,000 people, or one-fifth of the population, will be suffering from severe hunger and need emergency food aid by October.

Dr Peter Stephens, from the NT Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines, said his team would arrive in the fledgling nation - plagued by unrest in recent weeks - in October.

"We aim to increase food security in East Timor through increased food production and storage," he said.

The 14-month East Timor Capacity Building in Crop Production project aims to reduce crop losses due to pests and diseases.

It is funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).

"Between 31 to 40 per cent of crops grown by subsistence farmers in South-east Asia can be lost due to pests and diseases," Dr Stephens said.

"In East Timor, we will be instructing key agricultural extension and teaching staff ... in methods of pest and disease identification and culturally appropriate methods of control."

Dr Stephens said it was hoped the knowledge would be passed on to local growers in a series of regional plant health workshops.

"Local growers will learn how to identify and control pests and diseases of maize, rice and tomatoes, and how to implement effective methods of control," he said.

"This will also help them to identify and control pests and diseases in other staple and cash crops ...

"The crop specialist in each area will be encouraged to continue these plant health clinics after this initial workshop to ensure continual help to the farmers."

The project is a joint initiative between DPIFM, Charles Sturt University, New South Wales Department of Primary Industry and the Western Australian Department of Agriculture.