She added that government needs to align national priorities with regional and international ones to increase regional cooperation in food technology generation, and support a greater push for technology adoption and dissemination.
Madam Bar-Li said this when she was delivering a paper on “Innovation in Agriculture: The story of Israel” at the 4th National Food and Agriculture Show (FAGRO), in Accra. She explained that despite Israel’s unfavorable climatic condition of long dry spells and problematic soil for agriculture production, the country is making giant strides in its agriculture production by the intensive use of technology to enhance agriculture productivity.
“We use 60% less water (80% recycled); Israel is the first to use waste water treatment for agricultural purposes; we use Less Land; we only use 2.5% of working force (17% in the past), despite this our agric production has grown by a factor of 20.” She remarked.
She said government needs to develop a close cooperation between farmers, research and development centers, the agro industry and agric extension to provide insight and enhanced understanding of constraints to agricultural technology adoption and outline key strategies for increasing the adoption of profitable agricultural technology, including the role of policies, institutions, and infrastructure.
She said Israel is ready to share its knowledge and experience with Ghana by creating special short term and long term courses in Israel and abroad, involvement in global development Projects and initiating joint R&D programmes.
“Israel supports a resolved approach to making agriculture more productive and sustainable Ghana by contributing to increasing growth in the economy, improve food security and reduce poverty” She stated.
Israel is a world leader in agricultural research and development; this has led to dramatic increases in the quantity and quality of the country's crops. The drive to increase yields and crop quality has led to the development of new seed and plant varieties.