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Konnichiwa.! Watashiwa Martha Desu, watashiwa extension officer to shite hataraite imasu,Kgatleng District, Botswana Kara Kimashita.

I am a participant for Market-oriented Agriculture Promotion for Extension Officer Program. A great honor it has been for me also to have been a participant on this Knowledge Co-Creation program under JICA, a Japanese Organization that is aimed at developing the capacity of government officials from all fields to contribute to the growth and development of our country.

Having participated in this program, i have acquired skills and knowledge on Market-Oriented Agriculture Promotion. The past five months of being in Japan have been a fruitful and successful experience to sharing our knowledge with other course participants, the Japanese farmers, researchers, and extension officers. All these would have not been possible without a total devoted and committed JICA staff and other relevant stake holders. This has enabled me to gain more knowledge on how Japan farmers carry out their production and how the government and other relevant stakeholders assist farmers which makes them to be among the top advanced countries on agricultural technology and production in general.

I have learnt the techniques which Japanese farmers apply to prolong their harvesting for tomatoes such as the use of tunnels, rain protected culture, mulching and many more. I also got an opportunity to learn about how Japan Agriculture Association (JAA) works in helping the farmers with marketing and distribution of their produce and processing of farm produce such as tomato. The other fascinating thing was getting to learn more on how the extension service in Japan operates. As opposed to many African countries that use the ‘top bottom system,' Japan uses the ‘bottom up system' that enables them to have a trusting relationship with their farmers and other agricultural stakeholders and easy facilitation of trainings and researches.

Therefore i would like to express my profound gratitude to JICA for the opportunity they granted me in this training which i believe that with their support and that off the Ministry at large, shall take our nation to a better tomorrow. And to the entire Japanese people who have been so kind and humble to share with us their experiences, arigato gozaimasu. The warm welcome, care and love they showed to us made us feel safe and at home.

Dōmō Arigatō gozaimashita.