An ancient Chinese proverb says “give a man a fish and you feed him for one day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A lot of foreign assistance programs directed from developed countries to developing ones however fail to do so. It’s been decades since Nepal has been receiving foreign aid and assistance. Yet, the grim reality is that Nepal still is ranked as one of the least developed nations in the world. After analyzing several years of data, foreign and national academicians who have studied Nepal’s development, have come to the conclusion that foreign guided aid and assistance programs have failed to translate into real progress for the common citizens of the country. In this context, a support program initiated by the Government of Israel, towards the development of the agriculture sector of Nepal can serve as an exemplary model of how development assistance should be provided by a developed nation to a developing nation.
Assistance Directed Towards Modernizing Agriculture Nepal 66% of the total population of Nepal depend upon agriculture for their sustenance. The country’s territory is gifted with ample natural resources, including naturally fertile land, adequate water resources, suitable weather conditions and a young population. Yet, the country still depends upon foreign imports of agricultural products to fulfill the needs of its population. The dependence on inefficient traditional agricultural methods can be attributed to the main reason behind this grim reality of the country. While several business houses are thriving through agriculture and livestock industries, several traditional farming families are observed to be discouraging their newer generations from the profession. The country’s education system too has largely ignored the importance of agriculture and has instead focused on building manpower for other industries.
But, interest seems to be gradually reviving in the sector and some new generation of farmers have started following the agricultural practices of countries like Israel and Japan, to develop a viable personal economy. In this context, the Embassy of Israel launched a program in 2014 to send 515 young Nepali farmers to Israel for a 10 month long vocational course on modern agricultural practices. The embassy appointed the Small Farmers Development Bank for choosing the right candidates for the course, upon which it recommended only young people from farming families for the program. 314 Nepali students are currently taking the course in 4 institutes in Israel, including Ashkelon Academic College, Ramat Negev Desert Agro-Research Center, Arava International Center for Agricultural Training (AICAT) and Sdot Negev Regional Council. The rest of the 515 are slated to depart to Israel by October.
Lesson for Development Organizations Most of the time, foreign development assistance programs fail to get expected results, as the people running them fail to understand the real needs of the people receiving the assistance. In the long run, the failure of such programs can adversely affect the reputation of the wider development sector, as is seen in the case of Nepal. Development agencies often are observed to make aggressive efforts reinforce the belief that there are gaps between the developed world and developing world and end up instilling practicing that instills a parasitic tendency in the governments in the underprivileged countries.
But such an exemplary step from Israel can really help make visible sustainable development in a country like Nepal. Such practical scholarships are what the Nepali youth really require, which can make a significant difference in the agriculture industry in Nepal. The education that these Nepali youths will bring, will play an important role in changing the lives of thousands of farming families in Nepal. It’s an irony that throughout these decades, no foreign development agencies attempted such an effective strategy for assisting in the development of Nepal. Perhaps, its time that the foreign donor agencies start developing such programs to ensure that development really is felt by the common people in the developing nations.
Context and Perspectives 