Karnataka will use Israeli techs to boost horticulture production in the state, an official said in a statement on Wednesday. Three Centres of Excellence (CoE) were set up under the Indo-Israeli agricultural project to boost production of mangoes at Kolar, pomegranate at Bagalkote and vegetables at Dharwad, the official said. The three centres were inaugurated online by Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.
The three CoEs are part of 29 such centres in operation in 12 different states in India, which will use Israeli technologies tailor-made for local conditions. The project is run under the government-to-government (G2G) cooperation between the Agriculture Ministry's mission for integrated development of horticulture division and Israel's agency for international development cooperation.
According to the statement, the CoEs will show and train farmers in best practices and help them choose and adopt the technologies that suit them to boost their outputs so income would be doubled.
For example, the Kolar CoE will produce new varieties of mangoes through best cultivational practices with Israeli rootstocks based on commercial hi-tech nursery management. In addition, it will define canopy management guidelines to rejuvenate old trees and plant new orchards. It will also implement drip-irrigation and fertigation systems for optimal water use, the statement said. Fertigation means applying some fertilisers along with drip irrigation.
Bagalkote CoE will introduce irrigation management based on precision agriculture by satellite imaging. It will also use advanced fertigation and practical demonstration of super Bhagwa canopy management techniques to improve pomegranate production.
In Dharwad, quality seedlings, best greenhouse included practices for vegetable farming of Israeli standards and Israeli variety of vegetables, nematode solutions etc., will be generated, the official said in his statement.
The two countries envisage setting up Indo-Israel Villages (IIVoE) through the cooperation to create a model ecosystem in agriculture in eight states and link the same with CoEs at Bagalkote and Kolar.
IIVoE will build modern agricultural infrastructure, support and enhance market linkage to optimise growers' profitability, the statement says.
Yediyurappa lauded the partnership and said that there is scope for adopting new farming and post-harvest management technologies to boost horticulture in the state.
Israeli Ambassador to India, Ron Malka, opined that the partnership would give local farmers a competitive edge in the overseas markets for exports.