The beneficiary students​
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Monday bade a farewell to the 13 agricultural graduates, who are embarking on an internship programme in Israel.
The graduates are among students from Asia, South America and other African countries to undergo the annual Agro-Studies project in Israel.
The Agro-Studies training is a joint project organised by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture, and in Ghana, the project is a collaboration between the Embassy of Israel, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, and Agro-Studies of Israel.
Chief Director of the Food and Agriculture Ministry, Patrick Ankobiah said at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra that, the students, who are the third batch, would spend 11 months in Israel during which they would receive practical training from top agronomists and agricultural instructors.
They would also be trained in fields such as irrigation, aqua culture, fruits and vegetables with on the job training in farms across Israel.
He charged the students to be good ambassadors of Ghana and come back as better agriculturalists to impact the knowledge and practical experiences they would acquire, saying, “As you embark on this journey to Israel, you should remember that you are ambassadors of this country and therefore what is important is for you to conduct yourselves very well.”
“You should consider yourselves very lucky among so many graduates of agriculture to have this opportunity,” he added, and continued that “it is important that you go and return, having acquired all the practical experience and knowledge, to help yourself and the country.”
“Others have gone before you and they have comported themselves so well, and therefore you have a duty to go and hold the flag of Ghana very high. You can only go and keep it higher there. You come back to impact and this is part of the modernisation agenda for agriculture,” Mr. Ankobiah explained.
Coordinator of the Internship Programme, Prince Kwame Boakye, said Ghana had been offered a quota of 200 students this year, and that the 13 students are part of the entire figure.
According to him, this will bring to 85 the number of students who have left this year for the Agro-Studies internship programme, indicating that more than 100 are yet to leave “and they are in various stages of preparations for the trip.”
“It is a paid internship programme which means they will be given allowances in the farms,” he noted.
By Ernest Kofi Adu