Posted on September, 12, 2019 at 11:00 am
THE government has dispatched additional 100 students to study ‘applied modern agricultural techniques’ in Israel in an effort to transform agricultural industry in the country.
Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Permanent Secretary (PS), Dr Faraji Mnyepe revealed this in Dar es Salaam when speaking at the function to bid them a farewell.
He said that Tanzania and Israel have been cooperating for a long time and will continue to do so to improve different sectors including agriculture, information and communication technology as well as in health.
“It is a great opportunity for you as you will acquire knowledge on modern agriculture, and I hope you will use the skills to improve our country’s agricultural sector once you are back,” Dr Mnyepe said.
He noted that the President, Dr John Magufuli forwarded the request to the Israeli government in November last year and directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate it.
He added: “The coordination of the opportunities was undertaken by Foreign Affairs Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and institutions concerned with youth development…taking advantage of the training to enhance creation of jobs for the youth in
future.”
Dr Mnyepe further said that in the process 1, 440 students applied and filtering rounded 100 of them to travel, but in batches.
The first batch of 60 students arrived in Israel on September 5, 2019 and the remaining are expected to leave today on September 11, 2019, he said.
For his part, the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Anthony Mavunde, said that the programme would build their capacity such that once they would be back would use their skills to revolutionise agriculture in the country.
“You should make sure that you use this opportunity wisely as ambassadors to uplift the lives of the majority Tanzanians, particularly the youth to invest in the agricultural sector,” Mavunde said.
In November 2018, President Magufuli had a diplomatic discussion with Israeli Ambassador to Tanzania, Noah Gal Gendler where the envoy offered to welcome some Tanzanians to attend trainings in his country on modern agriculture fully funded by his government for 11 months.
The programme is being extended to students from South East Asia, Africa and South America to acquire advanced commercial farming techniques in Israel.
Source: IPP Media