Farming Techniques — Israel to India
Government of India and Israel are aiming to strengthen partnership in the farm sector. The main idea is to revolutionize Indian farm sector with the use of Israeli water efficiency improving technology.
With irrigation being one of the top problems, the introduction of modern and international methods into agriculture and making them available for the small and marginal farmers will be pivotal.
India and Israel agreed to make developmental actions in crop varieties and share post harvest technologies. The 10 year old IIAP a.k.a Indo-Israeli Agriculture Project has successfully accomplished the growth of certain crops in different regions. These accomplishments include the growth of cherry tomatoes in Haryana and rejuvenating mango orchards in Maharashtra. Demonstrating the effectiveness of state-of-the-art irrigation technologies to Indian farmers was also a part of the program.
Why is Israel Selected by Indian Government?
60% of the area in Israel is desert and the irony is, Israel exports high value farm produce like mangoes and avocados. This is something which proves the excellent agriculture technology being used in Israel. Even after being the largest food producers globally, the main challenge India faces is to counter the effects of erratic rainfall, raise productivity and use water efficiently.
So the objective behind the agriculture cooperation project launched in 2008 was to share best practices and technical knowledge.
National Horticulture Mission (NHM) under the agriculture ministry, MASHAV, Israel’s agency for international development cooperation, and Indian state governments which help set up centers of excellence as per their local needs, are the implementing partners of the project.
The goal is to assist the Indian farmers by exposing them to new technologies that are tailored to their local needs. Experts say that there is a lot of work to be done in order to improve drip irrigation along with designing better farms using canopy management and improved fertigation and irrigation technologies. Every center that would be set up showcases a range of greenhouses to farmers depending on their needs and capabilities. A unique focus is to teach farmers about when and how to irrigate so that the water is used efficiently.
Development in Future
Twenty centers of excellence are in function so far in different States. By February, 5 more centers will be in operation. Among all these, the notable centers are for vegetables in Karnal in Haryana, Mangoes in Dapoli, Citrus fruits in Nagpur and Maharashtra, and for pomegranates in Rajasthan (Bassi).
The center of excellence for bee keeping in Haryana and center for Diary which is yet to be started, are the most unique projects.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in July last year, a new action plan for the years 2018–2020 envisages joint development of new crop varieties and sharing of post harvest technologies.
The plan is to establish a partnership on water conservation that includes desalination, water utility reforms, cleaning of rivers using advanced water technologies, waste-water treatment and its reuse for agriculture.
Are Israel Farming Techniques Sustainable in India?
MASHAV document states that vegetable intervention in Haryana showed how crop productivity could be increased 5–10 times under protected cultivation of tomato, capsicum and cucumber, coupled with 65% decrease in water use and substantial reduction in fertilizer and pesticide costs.
Within a span of three years, the mango orchard rejuvenation project in Dapoli resulted in a three-fold rise in productivity.
10K — 20K farmers visit each of these centers every year. The government authorities hope that the technologies will perform well being carried forward by state governments and governments sectors.
A key way to boost agricultural production is to implement better soil-water management techniques that provide barren and semi barren lands better access to irrigation water, without increasing the stress on available water resources.
Conclusion
Reports from previous surveys show that out of 160 million hectares of cultivable land in India, only 65 million hectares is covered under irrigation which is only 41%. And out of the potential area, only 8.6 million hectares currently covered under micro-irrigation
Adoption of drip irrigation has been faster in water-stressed states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Gujarat. Due to lower water availability farmers in northern parts of India failed to adopt at an equal rate.
On a final note, the center and state governments also need to push these technologies with more funding. Last year’s budget announced 5,000 crore INR as micro-irrigation fund, but it took almost a year to make it functional.
