{"id":41780,"date":"2016-05-27T17:05:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T15:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=41780"},"modified":"2016-05-23T16:00:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T14:00:01","slug":"24-05-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=41780","title":{"rendered":"Turning Israel\u2019s desert into a teaching experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>Turning Israel\u2019s desert into a teaching experience<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Viva Sarah Press<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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African and Asian farmers come to Israel\u2019s Arava desert to learn how to transform farming in their own communities back home.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IsraelisIsraelis farming the Western Negev. Photo by www.shutterstock.com<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli farmers are renowned for making the desert bloom. They\u2019re also proving that this desolate area is fertile ground for a new crop of agriculturalists and agronomists.<\/span><\/p>\n

Midway between the Dead Sea and Eilat, in the heart of the Arava desert, the Arava International Center for Agricultural Training (AICAT) is growing entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\n

AICAT, located in Sapir, has hosted over 10,000 undergraduates from across Asia and Africa at its 10-month agriculture work-study program over the past 20-plus years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students from Nepal, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Ethiopia, South Sudan, East Timor, Thailand and Indonesia come in August of every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey come at plantation time and grow with the plants,\u201d Hanni Arnon, AICAT director, tells ISRAEL21c. \u201cHere \u2013 where there are very harsh conditions, geographic isolation, extreme weather, arid soil and a shortage of water \u2014 they learn the importance of human capacity. If you want it, you can make a change. We teach that a difficulty is a challenge and you need to find a solution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"StudentsStudents come from many countries to learn Israeli agricultural techniques at AICAT. Photo courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Students learn through hands-on experience about Israel\u2019s modern approaches to all aspects of agriculture.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arnon says many of the visitors\u2019 farming families still rely on luck and prayers. \u201cStudents learn here that to farm properly and be prosperous, you need to plan. It\u2019s not about planting randomly and hoping it grows. You need plans, research, drip irrigation, pest control and water management,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA plant is a plant. It doesn\u2019t matter if you grow a tomato here or somewhere in Asia or Africa. It still needs good soil, water, sun and pest control. We\u2019re teaching that you need to plan, use the right methods, and research.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Food security for the world<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1994, Israeli farming communities began hiring Thai farmhands. The newcomers were amazed to see a desert in bloom and started asking how the magic happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNearly 25 percent of the world\u2019s population lives in poverty and we have the knowhow to help. We realized there was an opportunity to create a school and share our knowledge of high-tech farming practices,\u201d says Arnon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Established with the mission of bringing in students from underdeveloped regions, AICAT operates within the Central Arava Regional Council and has partnerships with the KKL-JNF, Partnership2Gether, MASHAV and CINADCO-The Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe never imagined that we\u2019d go on to become an international school with over 1,000 students per year,\u201d says Arnon. The majority of students (70%) are male.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of JNF and AICAT, we\u2019re getting the knowledge and experience we need to rebuild our country,\u201d said Binod Ghimire, an AICAT student from Nepal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"AICAT
\nStudents come from many countries to learn Israeli agricultural techniques at AICAT. Photo courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Turning Israel\u2019s desert…<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Turning Israel\u2019s desert into a teaching experience Viva Sarah Press African and Asian farmers come to Israel\u2019s Arava desert to learn how to transform farming in their own communities back home. Israelis farming the Western Negev. Photo by www.shutterstock.com Israeli farmers are renowned for making the desert bloom. They\u2019re also proving that this desolate area […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41780"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41862,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41780\/revisions\/41862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}