Healy hopes to boost farming skills in Africa

IRISH farm organisations should set up a scholarship fund for young African farmers as a way of speeding up the pace of modernisation of agriculture on that continent, IFA president Joe Healy believes.

Speaking in advance of his visit to Ethiopia and Kenya with Self Help Africa next week, Mr Healy said such a scholarship would strengthen the already well-established ties between Ireland and Africa on farming and related issues.

“I think Teagasc and the agricultural colleges, with the help of the co-ops and the farm organisations, should back the idea of bringing two or three young African farmers here to develop their skills. It would be a positive and helpful move,” he told the Farming Independent.

The IFA president recalled that in the 1980s, the IFA and Teagasc helped the famine relief effort in Ethiopia by shipping 2,000 tonnes of seed potatoes to the Meki Batu farmers’ group in that country.

The Meki Batu group now has 14,000 members in its co-op and is an important food supplier for Ethiopian Airlines on its Addis-Dublin– Los Angeles route.

It was this type of interaction which would help farmers on both continents, Mr Healy said.

Healy pointed out that climate change meant problems such as drought were now commonplace across the world, and he said shared solutions were needed.

“Farmers here experienced the affects of a real drought for the first time this year, whereas such working conditions are commonplace in Ethiopia and Kenya,” the IFA leader said.

“It’s tricky for African farmers all the time, but their Irish counterparts got a stronger idea this summer of how devastating and difficult it can be to manage a drought — even with technology, education and modern infrastructure,” he commented.

Mr Healy said he hoped his visit to Ethiopia and Kenya would help build closer ties between farmers in all three countries. IFA president Joe Healy