ADDIS ABABA— The bilateral relation between Ethiopia and the Netherlands is strengthening in a range of investment areas, notably in the agriculture sector.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Thijs Woudstra, Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands Embassy in Ethiopia announced that the Netherlands is supporting over 150 million euros worth of projects in agriculture, health, and private sector development.
The Netherlands is the major and largest investor in Ethiopia’s flower farm sector, with 300 million USD worth of flowers exported to the Netherlands, he said, and we are working to further strengthen it in the future.
According to him, the Netherlands also supports Ethiopia’s Agricultural Vocational Education sector through projects like Bright Future in Agriculture (BFA), where the aim is to provide hands-on education and supply qualified exposed graduates to the sector.
The project is underway in collaboration with Arba Minch University and is implemented in 12 TVETs in Ethiopia.
Enyew Getnet, Federal TVET Institute Deputy Director-General, for his part said that the project is underway as a 2.7 million euro joint project, and its design is to strengthen the local agricultural TVETs.
The project works to capacitate several agricultural colleges namely: Bako, Kombolcha, Alage, Wolayita Sodo and Wereta TVET colleges in producing
manpower that is capable and skillful in supporting farmers, both in the urban and hinterlands, and thereby help to ensure food security.
As to him, the project concentrates on both the dairy and horticulture sub-sector. It operates based on the fundamental notion that improving the quality and employability of agricultural TVET graduates necessitates changes on local, regional and federal levels through triple helix partnerships.
The Ethiopian Herald January 22/2020
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
