India, Israel to work together on agro technology

India and Israel on Friday signed an executive agreement to jointly set up a research and demonstration farm at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute complex in New Delhi, to test whether Israel's best agricultural technologies will suit Indian conditions.

According to Dr R B Singh, the farm project, to be completed in three years, will involve both Israeli and Indian scientists. They will work together to modify Israeli crop, horticulture, floriculture and micro irrigation techniques to Indian conditions. A model dairy farm will be added to the farm in the project's second phase, to demonstrate Israeli milk production technologies under warm climatic conditions.

Emphasis would also be on the use of low cost technology using local material and plastics for designing farming systems to withstand hostile climatic conditions.