This paper is about training young people to serve in agriculture and related industries (including food storage, preparation and distribution) in developing countries. Two types of training are considered: that needed by graduates who are citizens of the European Community (EC) to fit them to work in tropical countries and that needed by students coming from developing countries (predominantly, but not exclusively, tropical or sub-tropical) to take postgraduate courses in the UK.

It is assumed that postgraduate students coming from overseas will return home at the end of their training and will contribute to the improvement of agricultural production in their own country. However, it has to be admitted that this assumption is not always well founded. Some candidates regard escaping from their own harsh environment as a primary objective when seeking funds for overseas study. On completion of his course the student may seek to stay in the UK or to find work in another developed country, though immigration rules and the conditions attached to most studentships are designed to prevent this happening.