3 Centers of Excellence established in Karnataka under Indo-Israel Agriculture project

Bengaluru: Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Tomar and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday three centers of excellence in the state to take forward the Israeli technologies in the field of Horticulture under Indo-Israel Agriculture project.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) Division of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India and MASHAV - Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation - are leading Israel's largest G2G cooperation, with 29 operational Centres of Excellence (COEs) across India in 12 States, implementing advanced Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to local conditions.

Out of these 29 fully functional COEs, 3 are from Karnataka, viz., COE Kolar for Mango, COE Bagalkote for Pomegranate and COE Dharwad for Vegetables. These COEe generate knowledge, demonstrate best practices and train officers and farmers.

In a virtual event, Mr Yediyurappa thanked the Union Government and Israel for providing financial and technical assistance for establishment of these COEs under Indo-Israel Agricultural Project (IIAP) in Karnataka to transfer the innovative technologies for improving production, productivity and quality of horticulture produce to achieve sustainability and improve economic status of the farmers''.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Tomar said, ''These COEs have the capacity of 50,000 grafts production and 25 lakh vegetables seedlings production annually.''About 20,000 farmers have visited these COEs to gain knowledge about the modern cultivation practices in horticulture,'' he added.(UNI)