. Funded child heart operation to be commenced in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA– Israel has been executing extensive agricultural development cooperation projects in Ethiopia that have been registering significant success in supporting the latter’s vision of transforming the subsistence agriculture to a commercialized one, the country’s ambassador to Ethiopia said.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Ambassador Raphael Morav said that his country gives utmost priority to cooperation in the agriculture field taking in to account the sector’s indispensable role in Ethiopia’s economy and peoples’ livelihoods.
The Ambassador stated that the Technical Cooperation Program in Smallholder Horticulture among MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation), Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture and USAID have been bringing remarkable outcomes in supplying more than 500,000 high varieties of avocado seedlings suitable for export annually.
Noting that the Horticulture Program has been running in Ethiopia for the past 13 years, he indicated that the program plays an instrumental role in enabling the country to export high quality varieties of avocado mainly to European market since 2015.
“The program is really supporting the transformation of Ethiopia’s agriculture sector because avocado is the most profitable crop more than coffee, sesame and anything else and more farmers are realizing the huge benefit that they would get by growing it.”
Ambassador Morav said that Israel is setting up assistants of nurseries in Ethiopia that are producing over half a million seedlings distributed to smallholder farmers. The country is also providing farmers with trainings, demonstrations, equipment and utilities that require to grow avocados correctly and successfully.
By the same token, Israel has a cooperation agreement with German Development Agency (GIZ) in Afar State in arid and semi-arid agriculture.
An Israeli NGO named Fair Planet introduced hybrid seeds for vegetables and it has witnessed commendable results in enhancing agricultural yield by up to 10 times and supporting farmers to produce in a cheaper way by providing them disease- resistance seeds that have not use chemicals and plant protection products.
Another NGO called Cultivaid, which is working mainly in Amhara and Tigray states, set up centers of excellence for Israeli agri-tech and prepared demonstration farms so that the nearby farmers learn how to grow with advanced techniques.
In addition, an Israel-based NGO dubbed, Tov is operating in Butajira town of SNNPS and helping smallholder farmers to access loans through set up a fund of 10 million USD. “So far, the NGO has touched up to 6,000 farmers in the first phase and set a plan to increase the fund up to 50 million USD thereby reaching more farmers in next phases.”
Concerning Israel’s involvement in Ethiopia’s health sector, the Ambassador indicated that his country has been actively engaged with Ministry of Health and other stakeholders and supporting various hospitals as well as deploying several medical missions.
Ethiopia and Israel are going to celebrate this year the 20th anniversary of the set of Child Heart Program, which has operated over 600 Ethiopian children in Israel.
According to him, now the breakthrough is Ethiopian doctors and medical staff will conduct heart operations by their own starting from November 2019 in Ethiopian Cardiac Center. “Israel plays a crucial role in offering training and providing medical equipment and other utilities to the Center.”
“Israel’s NGO called Nala has registered a huge achievement in eliminating 90 percent of bilharzia in Tigray State,” Ambassador Morav said, adding that the NGO’s holistic approach in harmonizing provision of medicine with the treatment of contaminated waters and public education is the factor for such accomplishment.
Israel is also developing a project of emergency and trauma medicine with Ministry of Health and equip ambulances and offering trainings for health professionals in a view to consolidating its involvement in supporting life-saving efforts in Ethiopia, he remarked.
The Ethiopian Herald October 1, 2019
BY BILAL DERSO
