Following the Jerusalem Declaration, an MoU signed between President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and H.E. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel signed on 23rd February 2016, the University of Nairobi among other Agricultural, Water and Irrigation Training related institutions sent top students to the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) to study an Advanced Diploma in Agriculture and Agribusiness.
Eighteen students from the University of Nairobi’s Faculty of Agriculture were among the 120 students flagged off by the former Cabinet Secretary for Water and Irrigation, Hon. Eugene Wamalwa on July 21, 2017, for an 11-month advanced agriculture & irrigation training in Israel.
The eighteen students started their training on 1st August 2018 for an 11 months program on Advanced Agriculture and Irrigation at Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) in Israel where they were attached to work with farmers in Kibbutz and Moshav Jewish forms of settlement. The students lived in farms in the Arava region where and were exposed to the high technologies and the advanced agriculture in Israel. The students should have completed their training by June 30, 202, however, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions and ban on travel, their program was extended to October 2020.
The program has impacted on the graduates’ life in different aspects including socially, academically, and economically. The students have gained leadership skills and can now become community leaders and agricultural mentors; they have both practical and theoretical tools in food safety and security and knowledge on how to successfully establish agribusinesses and model farms. When they return home, the graduates will easily integrate professionally in both the public and private sector.
The next batch of students for the 2020/2021 cohort will leave for Israel once it is determined on when is the most suitable timing. The University is proud to partner with AICAT in this hands-on training initiative in Agriculture and Agribusiness.