India, Israel extend agricultural cooperation action plan
Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Sep 19, 2014
NEW DELHI: India and Israel have agreed to extend their existing three-year action plan on agriculture cooperation beyond 2015.
"Both the countries agreed that the present agreement (2012-15) will be renewed after 2015," said agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh after Israeli ambassador Daniel Carmon called on him on Thursday.
At present, the action plan 2012-15 is being implemented in 10 states-- Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and West Bengal.
Under the existing plan, both the countries have been collaborating in agriculture, horticulture, dairy, water, irrigation, seeds development and many other sectors.
Singh said, "Agriculture is a strong foundation for strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries. Israeli has shown interest in establishing additional centre of excellence in India."
On Carmon's submission that many Israeli companies were interested to work in India in the field of dairy under public-private partnership (PPP) mode, Singh assured him that the country would extend all possible cooperation. The current action plan comprises bilateral sharing of knowledge and technologies, establishment of Centre of Excellence in various agriculture sectors across India, exchange visits of experts and farmers and post-doctoral scholarships for Indian agriculture researchers in Israel.
Under the existing three-year action plan, two Centres of Excellence have already been made fully operational - one for vegetables in Gharaunda (Karnal) and the other for fruits in Mangiana (Sirsa) -- in Haryana while work is in progress to establish three such centres in Maharashtra- a citrus centre in Nagpur, a pomegranate centre in Rahuri and a Kaisar mango centre in Aurangabad.
In Tamil Nadu, a Centre of Excellence for vegetables is planned in Dindigul and a similar one for flowers is planned in Krishnagiri. On the other hand, a centre for pomegranate is being built in Bassi and two more centres are planned for citrus (Kota) and dates (Jaisalmer) in Rajasthan.