Under the Indo-Israel agriculture project, Karnataka would use Israeli technologies to increase horticulture production in the southern state, reported by IANS. The three centres were virtually unveiled jointly by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in New Delhi and state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa in Bengaluru.
The project is being implemented under the government-to-government (G2G) cooperation between the Agriculture Ministry’s mission for integrated development of horticulture division and Israel’s agency for international development cooperation. The centre will define canopy management guidelines to rejuvenate old trees and plant new young orchards. It will also implement drip-irrigation and fertigation systems for optimal water use. Similarly, the CoE at Bagalkote will introduce irrigation management-based on precision agriculture by satellite imaging, advanced fertigation and beneficial demonstration of super Bhagwa canopy management techniques to improve and increase pomegranate production. Fertigation is the application of specialty fertilisers through drip-irrigation. The cooperation between the two countries envisages the setting up Indo-Israel Villages of Excellence (IIVoE) to create a model ecosystem in agriculture in eight states, including Karnataka, and link it with the CoEs at Bagalkote and Kolar.
