- Radwa ElKhalifa managed to build a tremendous future for herself in the field of exporting medicinal and aromatic plants. She was named as the youngest exporter in this field, and despite the large number of those who work in it, she managed to be the first woman in this field to achieve such a wide fame.
- Radwa was nicknamed the Iron Woman for her arduous work. Through her love and passion for the field of medicinal and aromatic plants, she has always strived to teach herself and go through experiments, learning from her mistakes, trial and error, and finally success. She wanted to record each trial risks and advantages by herself in every experience she went through on the ground. She would not be satisfied with hearing from others only, as she has a die hard personality at work. She bears the challenge and perseverance to reach her goal.
- Radwa was striving to achieve sustainable development in this field. She was keen on finding out about the latest developments in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants. She participated in many conferences, seminars and workshops at universities and others. She would never turn down any one who invited her for a discussion or participation in this field. She has always advocated the importance of organic agriculture to protect the health of the first consumers, the Egyptians, as they are more entitled to the goods of their country and to provide them with safe products that are free of pesticides before exporting such goods to importers around the world. She suggests that strict laws must be imposed on exporting products to ensure people’s safety and their right to lead a healthy life. Radwa wonders if the Consumer Protection Law is effectively enforced. The Egyptian citizens’ health has to be taken care of by the government. Moreover, products must be free from any residual traces of pesticides so that they can have a safe life and a clean environment for them and his children. Strict punishment must be applied to those who produce or promote such pesticides.
Radwa participated in many conferences and seminars on agriculture and women. On May 22, 2016, her first powerful appearance in the community took place when she was invited by the Coordination and Advancement Unit for Rural Women in Fayoum, one of the projects funded by the Italian Federation (GEMISA) and Engineer Hamdi Amin, former head of the Directorate of Agriculture. She participated in the workshops for the promotion and integration of rural women in sustainable rural development and food security, where she presented the story of her struggle to the representatives of the various stakeholders and rural women at the Oasis Hotel on the banks of Lake Qarun in Fayoum. Her participation had great repercussions in the society.
- Being invited by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), represented in the Imkan project and the Green Trade Initiative, Radwa presented her idea for the Little Exporter Initiative at the youth recruitment forum that took place at South Valley University in Qena Governorate. The forum was organized by the Faculty of Agriculture. Her presentation was well received among the students and all concerned parties. The students at the conference said it was necessary to apply this initiative so that they could gain experience on the ground.
- https://www.facebook.com/GreenTradeInitiative/photos/pcb.1157509094360278/1157494764361711/?type=3&theater%20Green%20Trade%20Initiative%20%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unido.org
- In addition, Radwa took part in many conferences and seminars at the Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, especially in the Department of Business Administration. The conferences discussed many issues that linked the faculty to the field of medicinal and aromatic plants. Radwa has always called for the paying attention to the importance of this field, developing it, and addressing the problems faced by both farmers and exporters. As the faculty has a significant role in studying such problems, placing them under research, and finding a solution to the concerned parties in the country.
The university also called for the practical application of researches in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants and invited the concerned parties, such as farmers and exporters, when discussing theses or during meetings to find out about the latest developments that have taken place through the role of scientific research in verifying and publishing what has been reached. This, in return, would enable everyone to reach the concerned cadres in the state and create an interaction and mutual harmony between research and application so that we all advance in this sector and avoid the problems it faces. This is our duty towards our society and our dear country.At the invitation of many universities in Egypt, Radwa participated in employment conferences in which she put her ideas forward for the university and students, urging them to set a goal for themselves since the first year at the university and not to wait until graduation to set their goals. She suggested that they must follow their goals, develop them, and once they graduate, they would have a project that they sought to master throughout University years, so that they can be good individuals and not be a burden on their society. Thus, taking part in building their country and not to wait for jobs offered by the government. https://www.fayoum.edu.eg/agri/.
Examples:
1 – An employment forum was organized by the Faculty of Agriculture at Fayoum University, May 2017. The forum gave a presentation of the training that Radwa Khalifa conducted for the students of the Faculty of Agriculture that year. The forum also showed a live video presentation about the “Little Exporter Initiative” which was conducted on the ground in March 2017 to the students of the Department of Economics. The video toured farms, production and screening plants for medicinal and aromatic plants in Fayoum.
1 – A seminar titled “It’s time” for the students of the Faculty of Agriculture, April 2017.
2 – A workshop titled “The Successful Agricultural Engineer” at the Central Library, Fayoum University, April 2017.
3 – Youth Employment Conference at the Faculty of Social Work, Fayoum University, May 2017.
4 – Radwa was one of the first ladies who participated in the founding meetings of the associations whose beginning was to gather farmers, exporters and those interested in agriculture to find out the problems they face and work to solve them.
5 – Moreover, Radwa exchanged experience and meetings with agricultural associations, provided a lot to the sector of organic agriculture and the use of compost in agriculture
- Radwa also had a role with the Trichogramma parasite breeding and propagation lab affiliated to the Directorate of Agriculture in Fayoum. The lab aims at the safe biological control of some plant infections in an effective and inexpensive way for the farmer, which was one of the things she was calling for; the biological control and the abstention from using pesticides that have a residual effect in the soil, which causes disasters and troubles for the exporters to get a product that is free of pesticides and conforming to the international specifications.
- In this way, she seeks to generalize the application of biological control among farmers to reach a clean and sustainable environment by calling farmers to attend in all conferences, seminars and meetings, as well as linking the concerned authorities to popularize the idea of biological control
Radwa was one of the first ladies who participated in the founding meetings of the associations whose beginning was to gather farmers, exporters and those interested in agriculture to find out the problems they face and work to solve them.
Moreover, Radwa exchanged experience and meetings with agricultural associations, provided a lot to the sector of organic agriculture and the use of compost in agriculture,
Besides that, she took part in many seminars at the Egyptian schools and universities to tell her success story and journey to the students and youth, to set a living model and urge them to work hard for a bright future, God willing.
She has also made the door of her office open for all university students and everyone willing to do their scientific researches, master’s and doctoral theses. She encourages the youth and supports them as much as she can, leading them to the right path in case she is asked to do that.
Radwa was interviewed by many Egyptian TV channels, radio stations and newspapers. In her interviews, she addressed the key focus in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants as well as the problems faced by both exporters and farmers such as water pollution, pesticide control, spreading and popularizing the idea of organic farming, besides the need to unite as exporters and farmers by creating an association that represents them. She pointed out that the goal of the association is to improve the field of herbs, avoid related problems, and teach both the farmers and exporters how to take care and improve the entire field and protect it against deterioration or collapse.
1 – Al-Ahram Agricultural Newspaper, Vol. 701, 2017.http://agri.ahram.org.eg/PDF/20170415/index.html
2 – Al-Ahram Hebdo French-language newspaper, volume 1188, 2017.http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/0/34/107/25586/Plantes-m%C3%A9dicinales—Un-business-Florissant.aspx
http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/UI/Front//MultimediaInner.aspx?NewsContentID=25619&newsportalname=Multimedia
3 – 90 minutes, with Moataz El Demerdash, interview video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ngO-FIwRaw