SABI Training
The 2015 SABI training year
- and looking forward
to 2016
by Isobel van der Stoep
I
rrigation offers various employment opportunities (see article on page 7) and can be a very
rewarding career choice. Whether you are interested in technology, people or plants, want to
work in a rural or urban area, start your own business or work for an international company, the
irrigation sector caters for all of these options.
the annual training consisted of a design course and a system
Background
SABI was founded in 1976 and since the early days training was
an important aspect that needed to be taken care off. Irrigation
design courses have almost always been offered, either in
collaboration with government departments or with the former
technikons, with SABI and its members playing various roles
to coordinate and arrange the courses. By the early 2000s,
evaluation course, and there was a greater awareness of national
recognition that was required. This was obtained by partnering
with the Ethics and Leadership Institute (ELI) from 2009 to
present courses accredited with the AgriSETA. However, the unit
standards available for subscription required that more topics
than design and evaluation had to be included and this led to the
development of more courses.
By 2012, the current training programme had been established.
It consists of two focus areas – one for the irrigation industry and
another for the irrigation water users.
Focus areas
The first focus area was developed around the original
design course and aims to develop irrigation designers. It
consists of the following courses that are annually presented
in this specific order:
Introduction to irrigation equipment
Principles of surveying and mapping
Introductory irrigation design course
Irrigation system evaluation course
Computer aided irrigation design with Irri Maker
The courses run annually from February to November, with an
optional addi ѥ