Accra, Ghana, 14th February 2014: Israel’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Mr. Yair Shamir, will pay an official visit to Ghana from the 2nd to the 4th of March 2014. Ghana is the second call in Minister Shamir’s African tour, following a visit to Nigeria. From Ghana Hon. Shamir will continue to Ethiopia.
Minister Shamir, who is the son of former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, is a former military pilot and a Member of the Israeli Parliament – the Knesset. Before entering politics, Minister Shamir has headed several of high tech companies and venture capital funds and has held a number of senior management positions in the public sector.
Minister Shamir will be accompanied by a business delegation, representing some of Israel’s leading companies in the agriculture sector – irrigation, poultry, fisheries, agrochemicals and large scale agric projects integrators – to be featured in a business seminar and B2B meetings.
While in the country, Hon. Shamir will be holding bilateral meetings with key ministries and other stakeholders in the agriculture sector and discuss ways in which Ghana and Israel can further boost their bilateral relations in the agriculture sector.
Agriculture in Israel is a highly developed industry: Israel is a major exporter of fresh produce and a world-leader in agricultural technologies despite the fact that the geography of Israel is not naturally conducive to agriculture. Only 20% of the land area is naturally arable. Today Israel’s agriculture represents 2.5% of its total GDP and 3.6% of exports. While agricultural workers make up only 3.7% of the work force, Israel produces 95% of its own food requirements, supplementing this with imports of grain, oil-seeds, meat, coffee, cocoa and sugar.
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