Israel-India Business Guide - Agriculture &Water
18
A good seed brings the best produce
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Field Extension - SMS
Field extension service is the linking element between
the applied research and the farmers, carried out by
the government extension officers. The purpose of
this important link is double: first, to disseminate the
knowledge and second, to make sure that the new
technologies are assimilated and implemented by the
farmers in the field.
This can be seen, for example, in the case of micro-
irrigation: the knowledge about the use of technology
and hardware will be imparted and demonstrated by
training at the Centers; later on, the specialists will follow-
up with the farmers in the field to see if the technology is
being properly utilized and taken care of.
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Progressive Farmers
The progressive farmers implement the technologies
demonstrated at the Centers. They are an important
part of the process of transfer of knowledge by setting
example and becoming role models to other farmers.
Implementation
It was decided to arrange the Centers of Excellence
inclusters - vegetables, mangoes, pomegranates and citrus.
Each cluster is headed by an Indian expert, who is usually
the one who runs the most advanced Centre in the cluster.
The head of a cluster has a crucial role in ensuring the
sustainability of the project, for example: providing
professional guidance to other project officers in
cultivation, but alsoby being in charge of every stepduring
the set-upof new Centers (tenders, field preparations,
construction, etc.). Together with the Israeli expert
counterpart, each head of cluster is also responsible for
organizing the cluster’s seminars and for adopting Israeli
technology to existing local needs, which may greatly
vary from one Center to another.
A Vegetable Success Story – Gharaunda, Karnal,
Haryana State
The success of the Gharaunda Center of Excellence, the
first tobe established within the framework of the Indo-
Israeli cooperation agreement, servesas model for the
establishment of the additional Centers.
At the heart of the project lies a plant nursery which
produces lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of vegetable plug
seedlings annually utilizing plug-seedling technology
(young plants grown in small, individual cells, ready to be
transplanted into containers or a field).
The seedlings include hybrid seeds of tomatoes, cherry-
tomatoes, colored capsicum, cucumbers, eggplant,
chili peppers, and more. Each year, several hybrid seeds
of domestic and international commercial companies
are tested in the Center. The nursery has the capacity
to produce grafted vegetables, the latest technological
advancement in the field, which allows growing
vegetables in soil-bourndiseased as well as those infected
by nematodes (microscopic worms).
Additional technologies demonstrated and available at
the Center include:
Green Revolution
Trailing in Karnal, Haryana
Visit of an Israeli expert to the vegetable CoE in, Reddiyar Chatharam, Tamil Nadu
Agriculture
