WD News: Officials from the Embassy of Israel, New Delhi, experts and representatives of Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence (CoE), and a group of media professionals visited the CoE at Gharaunda, Haryana on Monday (Nov. 28, 2022).
The programme began with Dr Sudhir Yadav, Deputy Director Horticulture, CoE, Gharaunda (Karnal), giving an overview of Indo-Israel activities in Haryana.
This was followed with a briefing by Mr Muhamed Heib, Spokesperson, Embassy of Israel.
Mr Ohad N Kaynar, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel gave a briefing on Israel-India relations with focus on agriculture.
Mr Yair Eshel, Agriculture Attache at the Embassy of Israel in India shared his experiences on the implementation and assimilation of the latest agricultural practices and techniques used in Israel and their application in the Indian agriculture sector.
An all-women team of four Israeli experts was present during the interactions, comprising Ms Tammy Erann Soussa – expert on Gender Specific, Ms Shoshana Weizman – Floriculture Expert, Dr Tal Shilo – Precision Irrigation, and Dr Carmel Porat – Irrigation & Fertigation Expert, along with a group of local women farmers, representing the beneficiaries of CoE – all of whom shared their experiences.
Ms Anupama Madhok Sud, Director & Editor of Water Digest was among the media professionals present in this one-day visit.
The objectives of the CEV (Centre of Excellence for Vegetables) in Gharaunda are:
- Producing high-quality, disease-free healthy seedlings in the soil for farmers (cherry tomatoes, cucumber, brinjal, chilli, coloured capsicum, green capsicums and so on).
- Demonstrating the protected cultivation technology of high-value vegetables.
- Making provisions for micro irrigation along with drip Irrigation for unseasonal crop cultivation and high yield.
- Providing technical know-how and training to farmers.
- Increasing crop productivity along with quality produce.
- Increasing the income of the farming community.
There were engaging presentations and discussions held on drip irrigation, micro irrigation, vertical farming, open & protected cultivation, farmers outreach programs, and water management.
The programme concluded with the guests visiting the demonstration zone and nursery – showcasing intensive farming results with increased productivity and optimal water use efficiency in key crops.
Background
The Centres of Excellence are a part of the Indo-Israeli Agricultural Cooperation Project started in 2008 following the signing of a 3-year action plan based on a Government-to-Government Agreement.
Within this framework, the State of Israel was requested to share best practices and know-how, and provide capacity building through professional training programs to be conducted both in Israel and in India.
To achieve the stated goals of the cooperation agreement, it was decided to establish “Agricultural Centre of Excellence,” funded by both the Federal Government NHM and by individual State Governments, that are also responsible to allocate land and professional manpower.
The Centre of Excellence provides a suitable platform for a rapid transfer of technology to the farmers. The know-how and new agricultural technologies such as protected cultivation, drip irrigation and fertigation are demonstrated at the centre with the aim to be adopted by the farmers. This is done to increase their yields and productivity and also to improve the quality of produce. This can result in a positive impact on the income of the farmers and market prices, as well as introducing new varieties.
The Centre of Excellence is jointly set up according to the requirements and needs of the Indian Government. They address both small and large farm holders thus offering a wide range of agricultural practices – from hi-tech poly- houses to walking tunnels and net houses, in order to enable all to benefit from the new technologies.
