Women Agricultural Experts from Egypt

They were a merry group on that day in Jerusalem, which did not diminish the aura of seriousness about them. They were five of a group of 30 Egyptian agricultural instructors from Cairo, Giza, Tanta, Alexandria, Omraneya and Gharbeya, in Israel on a 3-week-long course to hone their knowledge and to observe farm methods in Israel. During our talk, each of them conveyed a strong sense of self-confidence, of motivation, of mission. They spoke of their time in Israel, of their work back home and of their aspirations.

The course was sponsored by MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry's Center for International Cooperation, together with CINADCO of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in cooperation with the Government of Egypt, and partially financed by the Government of Denmark through their agency DANIDA (Danish International Development Assistance). While there had been other, similar courses, this on was special: all of the participants were women.

During the three weeks the participants traveled all over the country for professional on-the-spot observation, but their temporary home in Israel was Kibbutz Bror Hayil, not far from the southern town of Ashkelon. They toured the Ramat Hanegev region where they witnessed the use of brackish water in agriculture, they traveled to the Lachish region, on the way to which they planted trees in the Peace Forest, they went to the north of the country, with a number of farms on the agenda, and they visited a vegetable market in Tel Aviv, where they saw and tasted some of the products of Israeli agriculture. At the kibbutz, there were lectures and discussions about irrigation, fertilization and plant protection. There, too, they received a basic course in computers, and even squeezed in a few hours of learning the Hebrew language.

The visit to Jerusalem was a "day off." On this day they could be tourists and relax from their lectures on farm management and planning. They toured the Holy Places and at one point during their tour they separated: the Muslims among them went to mosques, while the Christians visited churches. Shopping for souvenirs at the Jerusalem Mall was very much a joint project, as was a stop at the Western Wall, sacred to Jews. On the next day, they were to proceed to the Dead Sea area and look in on a cosmetic factory producing creams made with the same local minerals that were used long ago by Queen Cleopatra.

Laila Ahmed Elkeie, with an obvious air of authority, was the group leader. She works at the central administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, responsible for the Ministry's extension service. How were the participants for the course chosen? "Whoever wished could apply," she answered. "And when we get back, there will be another week of instruction in Egypt."

She had praise for the people who were in charge of the course: course director Ovadia Keidar, coordinator Miranda Zamir and professional coordinator Yehiel Shalom, and of their living arrangements in Bror Hayil. "They took such good care of us! And they even taught us Hebrew."

Suzanne Ahmed Mohamed Elhindi is an agronomic engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture in Cairo who coordinates between her office and farmers raising vegetables, fruit, wheat and other crops. "I make them aware of their problems and proceed to teach them whatever skills they may need. We are talking of women farmers - women who run their own small private farms - the size of which is usually about 20 dunam." Suzanne's job also involves information dissemination to the mass media.

The area for which Laila Olfat Abd Elbaky is responsible for, as director of rural development in the Ministry of Agriculture, is central Egypt. She is particularly concerned with training, inspection, monitoring and the transfer of technology to the women farmers. She is also concerned with non-traditional fodder production, "such as maize," she explains. "It is rubbish for the farmer and vitamins for the animal." What she would like to stress on her return to Egypt are the innovations in tomato farming which she witnessed in the Ramat Hanegev area and the towns of Kalansua, Taibe and Tira. She admired the high quality of tomato and flower production she saw, as well as the size and taste of green peppers, strawberries and mango. "I want to come back in December and take a bite out of one of the huge mangos I saw here when they were still unripe," she smiles.

Aida Elsayed Nour and Suzanne Fouad Soliman Fekry live in Alexandria and their work takes them to farms in the Behera district, about of an hour by bus from the city. They are responsible for training work in the villages. "We have a permanent planning and learning center in our district. It is full of equipment which the farmers can borrow for free," they explain. "And there is a laboratory for milk and milk products, such as cheese."

Along with management of poultry raising, dairy and fish farming, Nadia Abd Elfattah Ata Aly teaches the women farmers such housekeeping skills as nutritional cooking, sewing and knitting. As a consequence of her course in Israel, she would like to add on her return home the planning of greenhouses for tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries. "This could create so many new jobs," she comments.

The importance of the computer is not lost on these agricultural experts. "The fact that one can research, store and then retrieve all kinds of important information is of great help to us," they all agree.

But the job of these highly motivated women does not end here. Their mission brings them to all aspects of the woman farmer's life, including the personal. Thus, after they build up trust, they teach them reading and writing, and, in accord with Egyptian government policy to slow the country's population explosion, they enlighten the women farmers about birth control. "We do not actually instruct them in birth control," says Nadja, "but we help them make contact with the doctor. And then we follow things up."

"I travel quite a bit," Nadia adds. "It's one day in the office, one day in a village. On the average, I get to visit six villages each week."

During the last week of their stay in Israel, they were very busy preparing their special projects. They divided into three groups and on the last day of the course presented three projects:

1. an examination of the sensitivity and viability of growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers;
2. what is a better investment, planting apricots or peaches? an investigation based on computer-based research of the past nine years;
3. planning of water distribution for the whole farm, based on computerized reckoning.

Each presentation was accompanied by computer-produced slides made by the participants.

A big moment came at the experts' graduation ceremony at Kibbutz Bror Hayil, which was covered by both the printed and electronic media. Come to congratulate them were representatives of the governments of Egypt and Denmark, the director of MASHAV, Haim Divon, and Avraham Edery, who heads CINADCO's other training center in Kibbutz Shefayim.