How many men does it take to milk 200 cows? The answer, at the computerised dairy in Kibbutz Shefayim, is, one. ?The dairy has a milking capacity of 2,000 cows and shades and space for 1,500 spread over two and a half acres, with good ventilation and special barns. We employ just 15 workers to do everything, including milking the cows thrice a day,? says Haim Tager, agronomist and director of training at the Centre for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINADCO), which, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, conducts long-term, short-term and on-the-spot training courses in agriculture.
Speaking over the din of the dairy where men in aprons are milking 1,000 Israeli Holstein cows to the beat of rock music from a boombox, Tager says each cow gives 40 litres of milk a day, 365 days a year, irrespective of the weather. The cows seem disciplined enough. They line up in their clean, stainless steel automatic milking stalls, wait for the vaccuum pipes to be attached, and once milked and disinfected, head back to their shed where nutritious food and the luxury of a sprinkling system and huge rotating fans await.
It?s a stark contrast to the dairy system in India, but when it comes to agriculture, Indians who have undergone training at CINADCO say it has helped them improve farming practices in India. Says Rajeeb Kumar Roy, whose firm Agriplast produces agricultural aids inspired by Israeli technology, ?My course was on vegetable production and my project there was on tomatoes. I learned to grow seedlings in high-tech nurseries and became familiar with protected cultivation in greenhouse and net house, soil-less cultivation, very high-end harvesting technology and automated processing line technology. Israel has moved to protected cultivation of vegetables. They use drip irrigation systems, while our farmers are still using flood irrigation. We had been dealing with Israeli companies like Ginegar Plastic Products for the last 15 years. After returning from Israel, I tied up with four Indian companies to introduce Israeli technologies to the market.?
Purvi Mehta Bhatt, head of capacity strengthening for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya, joined the international research organisation after the training in Israel. Bhatt lead global projects for ILRI, including some in India.
