By Ally Jamah
Top Government officials have been invited to Israel to see the country’s latest technology in farming.
Israeli Ambassador Joseph Keidar said yesterday that his country had invited Agriculture Minister William Ruto and his Water counterpart Charity Ngilu (Water and Irrigation) to attend the 17th International Agriculture Exhibition in May.
"This is the perfect opportunity for Kenyans to meet international experts and see cutting edge technology that can benefit this country," he said. The exhibition is one of the largest international agricultural forums bringing together more than 2,500 corporations to showcase the most efficient agricultural practices.
"We have answers to most of the problems that Kenya faces in agriculture and water and we are ready to share it," said the ambassador.
The envoy added that Kenya could learn a lot from Israel, a small country in the desert, which managed to produce enough food for its people and have extra for export.
" The basic principle here is that more crops should be produced per drop of water," he said.
Training programmes
Kenya receives Israeli agricultural expertise mainly through training programmes in such areas as organic farming, aquaculture, desertification and dairy farming.
In Israel, every farmer feeds 250 people, one of the highest ratios in the world. Only one and a half per cent of the population engage in agriculture. In Kenya, estimates say more than 60 per cent of people are directly involved in agriculture, even though the country experiences severe food shortages from time to time.
Cooperative Development Minister Joe Nyagah said Kenya needs the technology to produce food from its vast swathes of arid land.
"We can no longer depend on rain-fed agriculture which has failed to feed our people, we now have to make use of dry parts of our territory too," he said.
He added that Kenya needs to be more efficient in producing food, because countries with less land were out producing her.
