Eight in-service civil servants will be dispatched to work with Israeli farmers for 11 months as part of an attachment under the agriculture ministry in October.
The candidates with a qualification of diploma/degree with minimum of five years working experience will work in the commercials farms in Israel to gain practical experience on commercial farm management.
An announcement on the agriculture website, says the candidates will be assigned to the commercial vegetable and fruit farms where they would work under the guidance of the respective Israeli farmers.
The candidates are not only expected to learn about commercial agriculture farming but can also earn some extra money, since they’ll be paid for their work.
“The candidates will not be paid stipend but will be paid on hourly basis by the host farmers for the actual work performed daily,” said an official from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).
Although the host farmers would provide basic accommodations candidates will have to manage food and other costs that follow by themselves, from the payment they receive for their works.
Nevertheless, the MoA will sponsor candidate’s air ticket through government funding.
Candidates selected to undergo this attachment course should be willing to put in physical efforts, for that matter the announcement calls for those who are less than 30 years of age with good health and are fit for manual physical tasks.
The program is initiated by the agriculture ministry and coordinated by Agro-Studies of Israel. The Israel representatives will be in Thimphu soon, to conduct selection interview and recruit the desired candidates.
The first thing that comes to mind is how different the two cultures are going to be and what sort of clash there may be!
The Isreaelis are a community that live with the fear of annihilation (real or imagined) and many have moved to Israel thanks to persecution elsewhere. They lead their lives like it is their last and work their asses off whatever they do. They are intense and in your face and dont’ take nonsense.
I doubt our own hardworking farmers will be taking part in this. Mostly our educated youth who have grown up in ‘gnh land’ where everything is free, every offense forgivable, attitude is chalta hai, and there is always someone to support you if you complain about being ‘overworked’.
All the same, I think it shouldn’t hurt at all to try this out. You never know, some of our youth will discover that there is more to just getting things free in live and decide to work hard. On their return, we may well develop our own successful commercial farmers to carry Bhutan forward foodwise.
good initiatives
Bhutan and Israel are two different geographical zone where agricultural products thrive differently. How will the practice learnt in Israel help us here in Bhutan? One is basically a desert and another a high altitude country. This step by govt. seem impractical. We should have sent these people to a country which is similar to Bhutan, like north India or Nepal.
I would prefer sending our candidates to places similar to Bhutan’s georaphical conditions as pointed by ngagidruk. there are places where hourly rates are good and the trainings/hands on farms are practical. say for example scotland, norway, sweden, etc with exact climatic/weather conditions. it is only the air fare tht may be little more. the other expenses can be met from the wages they earn, besides they can save as well.
the most important thing tht needs to be remembered by MOA is the actual practise when these candidates return. hundreds of people frm MOA have been trained so far and they are only now struggling to grow more vegetables. hope the story does not repeat.