CONIAF Launches Training Program for New Agro Professionals

CONIAF Launches Training Program for New Agro Professionals
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 9/26/2013

The National Agricultural and Forestry Research Council (CONIAF in Spanish) on Thursday launched its “Training of Human Resources for the Upcoming Generation in the Agricultural and Forestry Research System” program with the goal of training capable professional to take over and deal with present and future challenges in the agricultural sector.

Through the program, he said, 70 young people approved by Dominican President Danilo Medina, are preparing to go abroad to study and bring back new knowledge, technology and experience about other cultures. “It is up to them to replace a generation of professionals that have given everything for their country.”

Speaking at the ceremony, Executive Director of CONIAF, Juan Modesto Chavez stressed the importance of this program for the development of the country and the agricultural sector.

Through the program, he said, 70 young people approved by Dominican President Danilo Medina, are preparing to go abroad to study and bring back new knowledge, technology and experience about other cultures. “It is up to them to replace a generation of professionals that have given everything for their country.”

He urged the young people to be transparent and honest in their actions as professionals and reminded them that the future of the country’s food production is in their hands.

He said future researchers and teachers who need CONIAF must be willing to assume the responsibility of maintaining a system of economic development based on sustainability, competitiveness and equity in the productive processes.

He added that they “must be ready to overcome future challenges with entrepreneurial ideas, and have inexhaustible spirits to improve and advance toward the unexplored with a great deal of creativity.”

Mr. Modesto Chavez said that after careful selection of the  candidates, which began with a public call open to all agricultural professionals without any consideration of their surnames or political tendencies, CONIAF made a pre-selection of 70 young people to begin the preparatory process.

oday we want to congratulate these 70 commendable young people who will do their studies for Masters and Doctorate degrees at universities in Germany, the United States and Mexico. We want to congratulate their families for the education they have given them,” he said.

Noting that to achieve this objective, the Board of Directos of CONIAF have signed agreements with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and work agreements with universities in Germany, Gottingen, Hohenheim and Boom University in Nevada; the University of Puerto Rico, University of the West Indies and finally with IICA-CONECYTfor numerous universities in Mexico.