The goal of SOL 3 is Improved food security through increased productivity of major food crops.

A third phase of the Seeds of Life program (Seeds of Life III) commenced in February 2011 and is building on more than a decade of Australian support. Seeds of Life III is a national program implemented by Timor-Leste's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) in partnership with Australia that will provide access to the seeds of improved food crop varieties to 50% of farming households (estimated at 65,000 households in 2016). The program is also assisting to establish a national seed system capable of providing farmers with access to improved varieties well into the future. Seeds of Life began as a research program, funded by ACIAR, to introduce and test new genetic stocks of food crops (2001-05). Seeds of Life II (2005-11) built on this research and aimed to improve food security and to increase farm incomes in Timor-Leste by using better crop varieties to increase food production. AusAID initiative ING104.

By mid-2014, around 41,000 farming families were growing one or more new varieties of maize, rice, sweet potato, cassava and peanuts. These varieties give yields that are between 15 and 50 per cent better than existing varieties for most crops, with gains in yield of up to 130 per cent for sweet potato. Australia has supported MAF to reconstruct five field research stations in Aileu, Baucau, Maliana, Betano, Loes, Urulefa (Ainaro). These stations have improved the capacity of MAF to continue to identify, evaluate and release improved varieties of food crops. More than 1,000 Community Seed Production Groups (CSPGs) have been supported, and they produced about 130 MT of maize, rice and peanut seed in 2013, and about 185 MT in 2014. In 2013, 19 associations of CSPGs and 12 contract farmers registered with MAF's Seed Department as Commercial Seed Producers and produced about 82 MT of seeds in 2014. The number of registered Commercial Seed Producers increased to 60 in 2014.
Since 2011, Australian assistance has provided formal and on-the-job training to 2,123 people (1,453 men and 670 women) from MAF, NGOs and farmers, to increase knowledge and improve skills in both technical and more general subject areas. Australia has also funded nine postgraduate scholarships to MAF staff supporting future leaders and building the foundations of a sustainable seed system in East Timor.