Israeli-Indian partnership benefits growers

Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel when he landed in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Coinciding with the historic visit of the PM, Business Standard looked at some of the joint initiatives of the two countries across India and their impact.

Israelis have long been known for changing their agricultural landscape with drip-irrigation technology. Back home technology imports from Israel have made lives easier for Indians.

Take the case of Avatar Singh, a 42-year-old farmer from Kaithal district in Haryana. Four years ago, he was passing through Gurgaon when he first saw a massive polyhouse in the fields. Relatives guided him to the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables, an Indo-Israeli project set up in 2010-11 in Karnal, some 100 km from Delhi.

There, he was introduced to protected cultivation technology (where the climate around the plant is controlled), low-cost drip irrigation systems and disease-free seedlings. He was also trained in growing off-season vegetables for three days. “After training, I set up a polyhouse in my field and my yields for cucumber and capsicum have gone up fourfold. My income, too, has quadrupled,” said Singh, who was at the Centre on Tuesday for seedlings.

Read more at Business Standard