Bengaluru: India and Israel share a great partnership when it comes to agriculture. Taking it forward, the two nations have signed an agreement to enhance their cooperation in agriculture and signed a three-year work program agreement.

India and Israel are implementing the “Indo-Israel Agricultural Project Centres of Excellence” and “Indo-Israel Villages of Excellence”.

Ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, government of India, and Mashav - Israel’s agency for international development cooperation - are leading Israel’s largest G2G cooperation, with 29 operational Centres of Excellence (COEs) across India in 12 States, implementing Advanced-Intensive agriculture farms with Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to local conditions. 

The Centres of Excellence generate knowledge, demonstrate best practices and train farmers. Every year, it should be noted that these COEs produce more than 25 million quality vegetable seedlings, around 3.87 lakh quality fruit plants and train more than 1.2 lakh farmers about the latest technology in the field of horticulture.

“The work program will aim to grow existing Centres of Excellence, establish new centers, increase CoE’s value chain, bring the Centres of Excellence into the self-sufficient mode, and encourage private sector companies and collaboration,” the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare said in a statement.

On the other hand, the “Indo-Israel Villages of Excellence” program is a new concept aimed at creating a model ecosystem in agriculture across eight states, alongside 13 Centers of Excellence within 75 villages.

The program will promote the increase of net income and better the livelihood of the individual farmer, transforming traditional farms into modern-intensive farms based on Indo-Israel Agriculture Action Plan standards.