A vegetable grower is sponsoring a young Senegalese woman to travel over to England to do an agricultural business management course which will benefit her community.

Next month, 24-year-old Aibatou Mbaye will leave Senegal for the first time and fly to England.

Here, she will do a short course which will see her become one of the Marshal Papworth Fund’s first Demonstration Farmers.

Ms Mbaye’s studies are being sponsored by G’s, who have a beetroot factory in March, and she has been given a bursary by the Marshal Papworth Fund, which educates agricultural and horticultural students from developing countries so they can spread the knowledge they gain to fellow farmers in their homeland.

In partnership with Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire, the fund supports 16 students from some of the poorest countries in the world each year.

James Parrish, chairman of the Marshal Papworth Fund, said: “The fund has a long history of successfully helping young people from developing countries to help themselves and their communities to prosper.

“It is only with the generous help of organisations like G’s that we are able to deliver this new series of short courses and bring youngsters like Abi to the UK for her training.

“The fund and Abi are extremely grateful for G’s foresight and support.”

Ms Mbaye lives in Yamane, a village close to West Africa Farms (WAF), where she works as a packhouse quality control supervisor, having started out picking spring onions during the harvest.

Abi said: “I will be able to bring new techniques to my community and help people to grow better crops, while earning more money.

“I will also be able to help WAF by improving my knowledge of crops as well as the way in which I manage people around the farm.

“Travelling to the UK would be far too expensive for me and I would not be able to undertake this scholarship had it not been for the Marshal Papworth Fund accepting me in the first instance and G’s paying for my flight and visas.

“I am looking forward to making the most of this opportunity to learn lots which I can usefully share with my community and WAF.”

To find out more about supporting the Marshal Papworth Fund, call Sandra Lauridsen on 01733 363514, e-mail slauridsen@eastofengland.org.uk or make a donation at www.marshalpapworth.com/information/donate.html