The Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) will provide training and support for agricultural development in Liberia.
This was agreed upon by Myers Gonwongbay, Director, World Food Programme for Africa and Eastern Europe, and P. Rajendran, Vice-Chancellor, KAU, after a discussion held at the university headquarters recently.
Mr. Myers Gonwongbay said his country was keen to have trained manpower to push the growth of domestic agricultural sector.
“Almost 80% of land in Liberia is cultivable. If we get technical support and training, agricultural production can be doubled, leading to enhancement of income to our population. I have come to the KAU because of its proven technologies and established expertise,” he said.
Mr. Rajendran said the university was ready to host training with necessary permission from the Union government. ‘‘We have advanced technologies for crop production, plant protection, post harvest processing, and value addition. These technologies can be replicated in Liberia as well. Liberian students also can seek admission for KAU courses through established procedure. We can even send an expert team to assess the ground realities there and propose suitable programmes,” he said.
Registrar S. Leenakumari, Director of Research Sajan Kurien, Director of Extension S. Estelita, Associate Director Alexander George, former head of Central Training Institute Joy Mathew, and People's Rural Education Movement president Jacob Thundiyil participated in the discussion.
Mr. Myers Gonwongbay later visited various centres of the KAU.
