New Delhi: Aiming to strengthen partnership
in the farm sector, India and Israel today said they are
working on a five-year plan for cooperation in agriculture and
water.
A three-year joint programme (2018-20) has already
commenced, under which the Centres of Excellence (COEs) are
being set up across the country to train farmers about Israeli
farm and water technologies.
As many as 28 such centres are being set up under the
programme. One new centre at Bhuj, Gujarat, will be
inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his
counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu during his ongoing visit.
They will also visit a centre in Vadrad in Gujarat.
"We will strengthen the existing pillars of cooperation in
areas that touch the lives of our peoples. These are
agriculture, science and technology, and security," Modi said
after holding extensive discussions with Netanyahu to
strengthen bilateral relations.
The two countries exchanged views on scaling up the COEs
which have been a main-stay of agricultural cooperation by
bringing in advanced Israeli practices and technology, Modi
added.
Netanyahu shared idea of revolutionising Indian farm
sector with use of Israeli water efficiency improving
technology.
"Some plants need more water, some less. We can see it
today with big data, with drones, with other instruments of
technology to make farmers produce much more crops. More crops
with less," he added.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting, India and
Israel announced that "both sides are working together on a
Five Year Joint Work Plan for strategic cooperation in
agriculture and water".
Both the Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction over the
roll out of the three-year work programme (2018-20) in the
field of agriculture aimed at increasing crop yield and
optimisation of water use efficiency.
According to the statement, the PMs were apprised of the
progress made in jointly establishing 28 COEs across the
country.
They also underscored the importance of sharing the
development experiences with other countries.
India and Israel have agreed on ways to develop joint
programmes of assistance for third countries in the areas of
training, capacity building, and the development of small
projects in the agriculture, water, health-care and education
sectors, the statement added.
PTI
