Union Agri Minister Narendra Singh Tomar Visited Agri Tech Companies in Israel

A delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, led by the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, on a visit to Israel, visited Israel based Green 2000 – Agricultural Equipment and Know-How Ltd. and NETAFIM Ltd. During the interaction with the Israeli representatives, Shri Tomar said that the relations established between India and Israel in the agricultural sector will give new dimensions to the Indian agriculture sector. In recent years, our ties have further strengthened and the future vision of cooperation is in the form of a strong hi-tech partnership for both knowledge-based economies.

The delegation led by Union Minister Shri Tomar today interacted with the experts of these companies on various developmental aspects related to modern farming practices. During the visit, nursery practices, planting material of fruit-trees and vineyards, post-harvest technology, greenhouse farming, micro and smart irrigation systems and improved dairy and poultry farming were the main topics of discussion.

Shri Tomar said that more than 300 investments have been made from Israel in India mainly in hi-tech domain and agriculture. Micro-irrigation is important towards increasing water use efficiency at the farm level, reducing input cost and ultimately helping in increasing the income of farmers. Netafim is a leading micro irrigation company in India. India has a good association with Netafim in the adoption of micro irrigation and drip irrigation at the field level in the country.

Union Minister Shri Tomar said that to give further impetus to micro irrigation, a dedicated Micro Irrigation Fund has been set up with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Government of India to help States in mobilizing additional resources for expanding the coverage of Micro Irrigation.

On 10th May, Union Minister Shri Tomar will visit a dessert farm owned by Indian-origin farmers producing Indian vegetables in the Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani and Negev desert region. Shri Tomar will also inspect the demonstration of the use of drones by ALTA Precision Agriculture Company Ltd.