Israeli experts offer technical know-how to Indian farmers
Tribune News Service, Chandigarh, June 26
Israeli experts have offered to extend their technical know-how to Indian farmers to improve the yield of their crops and, at the same time, conserve water used for irrigation.
“Let us work together. We can help you improve in terms of yield. For example, mango has been grown in India for hundreds of years and has acquired a status of a legacy in Indian farming and culture. We, in Israel, started growing mangoes 30 years ago but we have attained expertise to get better yield from the crop. So we are ready to help you increase the yield.
“We regularly prune mango trees to keep the height of their canopy to just about two metres which makes it easy for farmers to pluck the fruit without damage even if it falls from the tree,” said Dan Alluf, counsellor, International Development Cooperation, Science and Agriculture, Embassy of Israel.
Alluf was speaking on the topic “Micro-irrigation and protected cultivation — Perspective from Israel at the national conference on potential of plastic industry in North India with special focus on plasticulture (plastics for agriculture) and post-harvest management” here today.
He told farmers and industrialists from Punjab and Haryana how Israel had excelled in micro-irrigation and how it was using plastic sheets to conserve water.
The conference was jointly organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, National Committee on plasticulture applications in horticulture, Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) and different industry associations.
The event was inaugurated by Punjab Agriculture Minister Tota Singh who also released a knowledge and strategy paper prepared by FICCI with the help of Tata Strategic Management.