Dr. Beth Mitcham Presents a Certificate of Scholarship Award to Mekbib Hilegebrile Siefe

It was a painstaking process to winnow through all the applications and select just one individual that we thought would best be able to implement the stated goal of taking the information learned back to their home country and sharing and utilizing that information to make improvements in the local and regional postharvest handling systems.  We selected Mekbib Hilegebrile Seife, a Post Harvest Technology Researcher with the Semera Rural Technology Research Center in Ethiopia. 

We enjoyed the opportunity to get to know Mekbib during his June 17-29, 2012 visit to California.  He wrote the following report for us upon his return to Ethiopia:

I was very happy and pleased during the time that I spent with all of the UC Davis people for those two weeks, those weeks were the happiest weeks in my life. I feel it from the deep part of my heart! You did a wonderful thing for me in my life! Thank you very much!

I wish for all UC Davis people long life and great success!

What did you enjoy the most?

Firstly, I was very admiring of UC Davis. It is an ideal place for academic growth, and pleasant for life. The city was calm, beautiful, ever-green, friendly for bicycles and also included very nice, peaceful and cooperative peoples. Secondly, I felt great pleasure and proud to be there on two weeks with other people who have done a lot of wonderful jobs and have placed their finger-print on the changes occuring in this fast and dynamic globe, with their two hands and out-of-border thinking minds.

The first week of the course was so fantastic; the program presentations were clear, concise, self-explanatory, practical, and systematic. All the materials were well supported by well-prepared documents, best research practice, current and updated information, references, manuals, photos and illustrations, which will make recall easier for me, and my future career more successful.  There was free, frank, open and hot discussion between the scientists and the participants. In addition, the demonstrations of cooling methods and instruments for monitoring different parameters; quality and sensory evaluation; and also post-harvest diseases and diseases control tools were so impressive.  They all gave me practical and fundamental post-harvest technology knowledge and a wide variety of information on horticulture crops.

What was your most interesting experience?

The second week was an incredible long field trip; it included all the food pipe line (Growers, Shippers, Marketers, Carriers, Distributors, Retailers and Processors). I visited more than 25 different organizations. It was enjoyable, impressive, and beneficial in terms of the transfer of a wide variety of technologies and knowledge that will be helpful to me in my home country.

I also got to meet a wide variety of people that came from different continents of the world, all in one hall at UC-Davis. I gained a wide variety of experience, knowledge and information. It was an interesting experience and a great opportunity, where I learned many things from many people.

Was there something specific you learned that you think will be helpful to you in your work?

The two weeks of training helped me by updating the current post harvest handling of horticulture crops and best practices.  This area is a very big challenge in the growth of my country's productivity.  I also increased my skills, devotion and commitment to transfer this new information to researchers, experts, extension workers and my people to utilize and benefit from the current knowledge. In general, the training was a life changing asset that I will always remember easily and which will help me throughout my life.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to everyone at UC Davis, the Leonard and Marseille Morris Trust, the Postharvest Technology Center and Postharvest Education Foundation for their generosity and kind spirit for an individual from developing country, to advance postharvest handling education that is the bottle neck of the development and growth of a developing country's productivity.