Training of Agricultural Technical Schools Teachers on Conservation Agriculture
DILI– The interim Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) officially opened a five days training commissioned by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on conservation agriculture (CA). FAO through a collaboration with the Evora University in Portugal, hold the training in Dili from 16-20 April 2018 targeted at Agriculture Technical School teachers from across the country. A total of 27 participants composting of 25 teachers and 2 research officers from the National Directorate of Agriculture Vocational Training and National Directorate of Agriculture Research, Statistics and Geographical Information participated in the training. Currently there are three Agricultural Technical Schools in Timor-Leste; each is located in Lautem (Fuiloro), Manatuto (Natabora) and Bobonaro (Maliana) municipalities. After a successful 5 years testing and promotion of the CA across 10 municipalities and in an effort to institutionalize the techno
logy, MAF and FAO agreed that the CA should be integrated in the curriculum of the Agriculture Technical Schools and part of this institutionalization is training of the teachers from these schools to be able to teach CA to their students. The objective of this training is to introduce the CA techniques to the participants both in theory and practical terms of the applications of the techniques including key principals, methodology, and the benefits for increasing productivity and improving soil fertility and reduced labor cost.
The Director General of Agriculture and Interim Secretary General of MAF, Ms. Maria Odete Guterres, the National Director of Agricultural Professional Training, Mr. Ipolito da Costa and the Assistant FAO Representative for Timor-Leste, Ms. Paula Lopes da Cruz are present at the opening session of the training. Ms. Guterres in her opening statement expressed her satisfaction for the collaboration MAF has had with FAO and her appreciation for supporting the training financially and technically. In turn, she urge the participant to make a full use of the opportunity to learn about the techniques to be able to pass the knowledge on to others particularly the students.
The event was held in Sao Paulo Nuns establishment in Comoro and was facilitate by trainer Mr. Gottlieb Basch from Evora University, Portugal. The training was successfully completed by all 27 participants who were awarded certificates and some training materials on CA at the end of the training.