Centers of Excellence established under Indo-Israel Agriculture project

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Recently, three Centres of Excellence were inaugurated in Karnataka under the Indo-Israel Agricultural Project.

About centres of Excellence 

• Centers of Excellence (CoE) are advanced/intensive agriculture farms for knowledge transfer of Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to the local conditions. 
• CoE aims to benefit farmers with a focus on selected key crops. 
• Each CoE will comprise Nursery management, Best practices Cultivation techniques, Irrigation & fertigation. 
• The CoE acts as a meeting point and working environment for Academy, Government and farmers to cooperate towards fruitful achievements.
• Under Government to Government cooperation 29 Centers of Excellence are to be set up in 12 states in India. Out of these, three Centers were launched virtually in Karnataka.

Key features of three centres of Excellence 

• The Centres of Excellence in Kolar, Bagalkote and Dharwad in Karnataka will implement advanced Israeli Agro-Technology tailored to local conditions. 
• Kolar will work on Mango, Bagalkote on Pomegranate and Dharwad center on vegetables. 
• The work will be towards demonstrating best practices and training farmers in Precision Agriculture through satellite imaging, advanced fertigation and beneficial demonstration of super Bhagwa canopy management techniques.

Villages of Excellence

• Under the Indo-Israel Agricultural project, Villages of Excellence will also be set in eight states across India. 
• Karnataka will get 10 such villages linked to Bagalkote and Kolar Centres of Excellence. 
• Indo-Israel Villages of Excellence will focus on establishing modern agriculture infrastructure, support farmers with capacity building activities and enhance market linkages to optimise profitability of the farmers.

About Indo-Israel Agriculture Project(IIAP)

• India and Israel have a strategic cooperation on the G2G level in the field of agriculture. 
• This partnership evolved into the INDO-ISRAEL Agricultural Project, based on a MOU signed in 2006. 
• The project is aiming at introducing crop diversity, increasing productivity & optimizing water use efficiency. 
• IIAP implemented via establishment of Centers of Excellence (CoE), in which Israeli Ag-Technologies and knowledge disseminated and tailored to local Indian conditions.
• Applied Research, Transfer of knowledge and Sustainability are three pillars of IIAP.

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