Israel pledged to share its expertise with Jamaica in key areas, including agriculture, regional development, and youth and community programmes. Ambassador Johanan Bein highlighted Israel’s success in similar projects abroad and assured that Jamaican farmers and communities could also benefit from modern techniques, research, and structured development schemes supported by Israeli specialists.

Published Thursday, September 6, 1973

Israeli experts give technical aid to Jamaica

Mr Johanan Bein, ambassador of Israel to Jamaica, paid a courtesy call on Mr Theodore Sealy, editor-in-chief and director of the Gleaner Company Ltd, yesterday.

Discussing the areas of technical cooperation with Jamaica, Ambassador Bein opined that Israel can lend its technical know-how to Jamaica in two important fields: agriculture and regional development, and youth and community development.

Israel has experimented in these two fields for the last quarter of a century with considerable success. Some of the mistakes recognised have equipped them to avoid repeating them in the future in any Third World country requiring their expertise.

In the Dominican Republic where Ambassador Bein is stationed, a successful regional development programme undertaken by Israel has been going on for the past three years with astonishing success. Five hundred families (drawn mostly from farming backgrounds) have settled in modern homes equipped with running water, electricity and other benefits. Community shopping centres, schools and hospitals are also provided.

Modern
The farmers have been taught the use of better and more modern farming techniques; irrigation; and the use of insecticides to improve both the quantity and quality of their agricultural products. The standards of living, health and education have increased accordingly. Even neighbouring farmers benefit from the experiments in better agricultural productivity.
The scheme is situated in a heavy tomato-producing area and a canning industry has been established.

Here in Jamaica, a top agricultural extension officer, Mr Abraham Goldstein, has been offering technical advice in agricultural extension, and Jamaica has expressed its appreciation of his services by requesting a year’s extension of his stay.

Jamaica also requested the IDB (the Inter-American Development Bank) to look into the problems and possibilities of subtropical fruit growing, especially avocados and mangoes, in Jamaica. Three Israeli technical experts – Shmuel Gazit (tropical fruit expert), Moshe Abidan (specialist in regional planning and the economics of planning), and Gaudiel Kedem (marketing expert) – have arrived on the island to undertake the study. Their findings and recommendations on the establishment of a regional development scheme based on fruit production will be presented both to the IDB and the Government of Jamaica.

Yet another Israeli expert, Mr Shlomo Achitur, is in Jamaica to study the country’s youth problems with a view to weighing the possibility of future Israeli-Jamaican co-operation in that area.

Ambassador Bein paid courtesy calls on the ministers of agriculture, education, youth and community development and the permanent secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs. He also called on Mr Louis Browne, the IDB representative; Mr Schields, the UNDP resident representative; and Rabbi Hooker. He expects to visit Yallahs as a possible settlement area.
Israel’s successful experiments in growing citrus in the Negev desert have commanded the respect of the world.

Ambassador Bein was accompanied by Dr Efraim Keisari, his technical co-operation attaché, himself a noted agronomist and specialist in regional planning and development.

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