Karnal (Haryana), May 2 (IANS) Israel’s Minister of Agriculture Orit Noked Monday said that India has the potential to become a world superpower in food production, provided it was able to utilise its resources with proper technology.
On her first trip to India, Noked, who visited the Centre For Excellence in Vegetables at Gharaunda, near here said that her country is ready to assist India in transfer of technology to supplement food production. She was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
‘We place Israeli technologies entirely at the disposal of India – which is today a true friend of the state of Israel. The implementation of these technologies will surely benefit the Indian farmers by enhancing their income, and improve the welfare of the general public by helping to counteract the rise in the price of food,’ she said.
‘The agricultural cooperation with Israel can and will propel India to become a superpower in food production and supply, strengthen this great country as a whole and will place it at the forefront of world agriculture,’ Noked said here.
The centre, some 130 km from Chandigarh, was set up with Israeli help and inaugurated in January this year. Under the project, the two sides share technologies and jointly undertake protected cultivation of various vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicum.
Noked’s visit to Haryana comes just a fortnight after Hooda led a delegation of scientists and officials to Israel to study technology adopted for agriculture in that country.
‘Israel has done wonders in agro-technologies and water management and these wonders are being implemented in Haryana,’ Hooda said.
Haryana has already announced it would set up 11 more centres of excellence in fruits and vegetables to help farmers maximise their production and income.
