Agriculture, the backbone of India’s economy, has been facing various challenges in recent years – lower productivity, resource crunch and erratic weather, all of these translating into lower returns.
Amongst these, one of the most critical issues for the farming community is the availability of water. Fresh water withdrawals are highest in the agricultural sector and account for nearly 84-85 percent of water withdrawal in India, which is well above the global average. India and Israel have had a very strong partnership in agriculture. Under the India-Israel Agriculture Project, centres of excellence were established in various states which are helping the farming fraternity in India to adopt the latest technologies such as micro-irrigation systems.
Israel has long been a leading example for the world in optimising the use of water in general, and in agriculture in particular. India has openly embraced Israel for this. Micro-irrigation incubated in Israel and gradually spread worldwide and has proven to be a technology which has the potential to change the face of Indian agriculture.
The collaboration with Israeli agricultural technologies helped in bringing the most advanced innovations to Indian farmers at affordable prices by adopting the concept of technology transfers combined with extension support by agronomists from Israel.
These specialists have come with their vast practical experience in Israel and worldwide and educate the Indian farmers through seminars and field visits, which make it possible to have the new technologies adopted in Indian conditions efficiently.