Jerusalem: India and Israel today stepped
up efforts to boost cooperation in the agriculture sector as
they moved closer to setting up centres of excellence in
India.
During a review of the `plan of action`, the two sides
found "satisfactory" progress for the establishment of centres
of excellence to promote research and development in
agriculture sector.
Israeli technique of storage of food grains has
particularly attracted the attention of India for possible
replication amid the global debate on food security.
A high-level Indian delegation held intensive
discussions with Israeli agriculture ministry officials to
push forward existing projects and to identify new areas of
cooperation.
The Indian delegation, including senior officials from
agricultural departments of Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra,
are on a four-day visit of Israel to boost cooperation.
The Indian delegation led Agriculture Secretary T
Nanda Kumar expressed the hope that Haryana and Rajasthan will
soon have centres of excellence to boost R&D efforts in the
sector.
Kumar yesterday met Israel`s Agriculture Minister
Shalom Simhon, who recalled his country`s long association
with India in the field of agriculture. The Israeli leader
expressed the hope that `the plan of action` he signed with
his Indian counterpart Sharad Pawar will give a big boost to
the sector in both the countries.
Israel has highly recognised centres of excellence in
the field of agriculture in Rehovot, near Tel Aviv, and the
Negev besides several other smaller centres.
-PTI
