Yaki Lopez, the Deputy Ambassador of Israel, led a panel of agricultural experts from the Israeli company Agrostudies to interview prospective candidates for an 11 month agricultural apprenticeship program from students, scheduled to take place in Israel starting September 2013.
The interviews, held in Uganda (22nd May) and in Kenya (23rd May), saw hundreds of local students with agricultural background interviewed for the program, but only 30 Ugandans and 30 Kenyans will benefit from the apprenticeship program. The successful applicants will combine agricultural studies in Israeli agricultural training centers, as well as learn Israeli best-practices in the field of agriculture, alongside practical work on Israeli farms.
Orange Fruits Harvested from an Israeli Farm (Author: Dawn Drury)
The trainees will receive a salary for the work that they do on the farms, which will provide for their accommodation and upkeep in Israel. From past experience, the trainees also earn enough money to bring back a good sum of money which usually provides enough "start-up" capital for them to start their own farm/business in their home country. They also bring back a great deal of top-tier agricultural knowledge obtained in Israel to their respective countries. There is little doubt that this program, which is scheduled to expand in future years, will contribute to the transformation of Kenya from a traditional agricultural society to a modern agricultural society with enhanced presence in the international markets.
Green house farming in Israel - a farmer in a green house (Author: Udi Steinwell)
This project is a public-private partnership initiative between the Israeli government through MASHAV (Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation) and an Israeli agricultural company called Agrostudies – (Agrostudies is a center for agricultural studies, which provides advanced studies and training in various agricultural areas for trainees from south-east Asian developing countries in Israel).
Modern Farming in Israel (Author: Udi Steinwell)