From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jun 16: The union government and the state government have jointly established three centres of excellence (COEs) under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project (IIAP) in Kolar, Bagalkot on Wednesday.
Chief minister B S Yediyurappa, deputy chief minister, Govind M Karjol, horticulture minister, N Shankar and union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the three centres of excellence through virtual mode. Union minister for coal and parliamentary affairs minister, Prahlad Joshi and Israel’s ambassador to India Dr Ron Malka also participated.
Union agriculture minister, Narendra Singh Tomar said the centers will help the farming community of Karnataka to get access to the latest innovative Israeli technologies and adopting them to increase production and productivity which will help in increasing the farmer's income.
These COEs have the capacity of 50,000 grafts production and 25 lac vegetables seedlings production annually. About 20,000 farmers have visited these COEs to gain knowledge about the modern cultivation practices in horticulture, he said.
Chief minister, B S Yediyurappa said there is a lot of scope for the adoption of new technologies in crop production and post-harvest management to increase the production and productivity of the horticulture produce in Karnataka.
He thanked the centre and Israel for providing financial and technical assistance for the establishment of these COEs under the Indo-Israel Agricultural Project (IIAP) in Karnataka to transfer the innovative technologies for improving production, productivity and quality of horticulture produce in turn to achieve sustainability and improve the economic status of the farmers.
Union minister, Prahlad Joshi said the establishment of COE in Dharwad and the other two districts would help the farming community to get high-quality seedlings and adopt advanced technologies in precision farming in the greenhouse with automation irrigation with fertigation. This, in turn, increases the productivity and quality of horticulture produce which fetch more value in the market. Therefore farmers will get more income per unit area.
Dr Ron Malka, Israel’s ambassador to India, said, "We are proud and excited to collaborate with Karnataka in Agriculture, which is a significant part of the Indo-Israeli partnership. Today, we inaugurated three different Centers of Excellence at a time when relations between our countries are strengthening and expanding rapidly."
"This is a milestone in the development of the state's agriculture sector, and will give local farmers a competitive edge in the national and international market. This will also enable them to double their income, aligned with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,’’ he said.
State’s horticulture and sericulture minister, R Shankar said the Centers of Excellence for Mango in Kolar, pomegranate in Bagalkot and vegetables in Dharwad under IIAP. Karnataka farmers are very progressive to adopt innovative technologies developed by these centres. Ensuring increase in production, productivity by reducing input cost, in turn, increasing farmer's income.
29 Centres of Excellence in 12 states
The Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) Division of Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and MASHAV - Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation - are leading Israel’s largest G2G cooperation with 29 operational Centers of Excellence (COEs) across India in 12 States, implementing advanced Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to local conditions.
Out of these 29 fully functional COEs, 3 are from Karnataka at Kolar for mango, Bagalkote for pomegranate and Dharwad for vegetables.
The COE is an advanced and intensive agricultural farm that generates knowledge, demonstrates best practices and trains farmers based on Israeli novel agro-technology tailored to the local conditions. The newly inaugurated COEs will help farmers in Karnataka to choose and adopt the technology that suits them best, with the goal of doubling their income.
The Centre of Excellence for Pomegranate in Bagalkot will introduce irrigation management based on precision agriculture by satellite imaging, advanced fertigation (specialty fertilizers applied through drip irrigation) and beneficial demonstration of super Bhagwa canopy management techniques.
The Centre of Excellence for mango in Kolar will generate end to end Mango best cultivation practices protocols, including new varieties of Israeli rootstocks based on advanced and commercial hi-tech nursery management. It will also define canopy management guidelines for both rejuvenation of traditional trees and planting of new intensive young orchards. It will implement drip irrigation and fertigation systems that will result in optimal water use, both in, efficiency and productivity.
The Centre of Excellence for vegetables in Dharwad will produce high-quality seedlings, demonstrate best practices in a range of greenhouse structures with Israeli standards, introduce Israeli vegetable varieties, and generate nematode solutions.
In addition, the India-Israel development cooperation in agriculture will establish Indo-Israel Villages of Excellence (IIVOE) with the aim to create a8 States across India of which, Karnataka will be a leading state and will implement it in 10 villages linked to the Bagalkot and Kolar Centres of Excellence.
The IIVOE program will focus on establishing modern agriculture infrastructure, support the farmers with capacity building activities, and enhance market linkage to optimize the profitability of individual farmers.
The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Sanjay Agarwal, union department of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare secretary, senior officers of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and farmer’s welfare and Rajender Kumar Kataria, principal secretary, department of horticulture, B Fouzia Taranum, director of horticulture, and other senior officers of all the state horticulture missions also joined to witness the virtual launch of the ceremony.