Goa’s agricultural scene just got a fillip, with a little help from Israel.
Earlier in the week, Israeli Ambassador to India, Naor Gilon, and Head of MASHAV, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel, Eynat Shlein, laid the foundation stone for the establishment of the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence (CoE) for high value vegetables and flowers at the Government Agriculture Farm, Codar, Ponda.
Others present at the event were Minister for Agriculture, Ravi Naik; Secretary (Agriculture), Arun Kumar Mishra; Director of Agriculture, Nevil Alphonso as well as zilla panchayat members, sarpanch of Codar village panchayat and many farmers.
The CoE is being established by the Goa Directorate of Agriculture under the Indo-Israel Agriculture Project.
Under this project, 13 fully automated green houses will be set up to produce seedlings of high value vegetables and flowers, seedlings of capsicum, chillies, brinjal, cucumber etc and marigold flowers to meet the demand of farmers.
Lettuce and other salad crops, which are in great demand in the hotel industry, will be cultivated using ‘nutrient film’ technique.
The technology and know-how will be provided by experts from Israel. Flowers like orchids, anthuriums and other crops with export potential will also be in focus through the use of improved technology.
In addition, other fruit crops will be cultivated in open fields using Israeli technology.
The project will have fully automated irrigation and fertigation systems based on sensors as well as computer-based programs. Post-harvest management activities will also be a part of the project.
The centre will help farmers to be self-sustainable and self-sufficient in the field of agriculture.
The work of setting up of the protected structure is expected to be completed by May this year, while seedlings will be available to the public from November 2024.
ABOUT MASHAV
MASHAV – the Hebrew acronym for Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation – was established as a division of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Israel's official international development cooperation program was launched in 1957 with the aim of sharing, with the rest of the developing world, the know-how and technologies which provided the basis for Israel's own rapid development.
Since its establishment, MASHAV has trained close to 2,70,000 course participants from approx 132 countries in Israel and abroad, and has developed dozens of demonstration projects worldwide.
