Farmers in Haryana will soon have the benefit of the most modern agricultural practices prevalent in Israel as the Indo-Israel Centre for Excellence in Vegetables near Gharaunda in Karnal, and the Indo-Israel Centre for Excellence in Fruits at Mangiana near Sirsa are in their final stages of completion.
Once operational, the two centres will provide cutting edge farm practices like specialised structures for preparing seedlings of various plants and protected structures for vegetables like walk-in tunnels, insect net houses and poly houses to farmers of Haryana.
Experts from Israel have worked closely with the Haryana horticulture department at these centres, demonstrating new techniques in sowing, cultivation, plant protection, irrigation, etc.
According to Dr Avri Bar Zur, counsellor, international cooperation, science and agriculture, Israel, Haryana tops the list of states in the country in implementing these projects in coordination with Israel.
Dr Zur said the centres in Haryana have been developed at a cost of $4 million. ?India has invested $3 million in these projects and Israel the rest,? he said.
Haryana?s joint director of horticulture Dr Arjun Singh Saini said tomatoes, cucumber and chilli were planted in the protected structures on an experimental basis.
?We are very happy to see the excellent yield of tomatoes and chilli, which is otherwise impossible in such soaring temperatures. Queries from local farmers are already flowing in. After the project is launched, we are hopeful that more and more of them will visit the centre and adopt the agricultural practices followed here,? Saini said.
In the last few months, agricultural and extension experts from Israel have visited the centres almost every month to monitor the progress of plants cultivated here and the specialised structures set up to demonstrate modern farm techniques. Israel has provided these centres valuable genetic material like root stocks, seeds and saplings for agricultural up gradation.
Dr Zur pointed out that vegetable experts will visit the Gharaunda farm in mid-June to make the hi-tech green house operational on an experimental basis. ?We are now nearing the completion of the major structures, systems for irrigation and other controls. At Karnal, we are going to run the systems in the green houses and the nursery in mid-June as a pilot project before the actual launch. We will also start planting seeds in the nursery in the second half of June to see how the systems set up by us work. If all goes well, we will start transplanting saplings of vegetables in green houses by August-September,? he said.
Israeli experts will visit the Centre for Excellence in Fruits in Mangiana in the last week of June. Dr Zur highlighted that these fruit cultivation experts will oversee the pace of work at the nurseries developed at the centre, and will also meet farmers for demonstrations in their fields.