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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Farmer Success Story: Vertical Farming and Israli farming techniques

Courtesy:
https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.theweekendleader.com/Innovation/1837/fairy-farms.html

Vertical farming, drip irrigation, soil solarisation and the like were terms that mystified Deepak Khatker, a 40-year-old farmer, when he first visited the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables here a couple of years ago.

Around three hectares are currently being used to cultivate vegetables using Israeli know-how. and is growing cherry tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, brinjals and coloured capsicums. The production is four to five times when compared with other farmers not using these technologies
Methods like vertical farming help save space on the ground by growing the crops vertically while drip irrigation saves almost 90 percent of water. These methods are revolutionary
Though the concept of "protective agriculture" is expensive as it requires greenhouses and poly-houses, government subsidies have ensured that interested farmers take the plunge.
We get 90 percent subsidy for installing a drip irrigation as well as automatic irrigation system, while for the poly-houses, we get 65 percent rebate from the government
About the centers that are propagating this
Situated 145 km from Haryana capital Chandigarh, the centre opened in January 2011 and is spread across six hectares. Built for Rs.6 crore (Rs 60 million) by the Indian government, it was set up following the signing of the Agriculture Cooperation Agreement between India and Israel in 2008.
Experts from Israel regularly visit the centre and organize free training sessions for farmers, teaching them "protective agriculture" to increase their crop yields while using fertiliser and water optimally. The experts also visit the farms if needed.
In addition, corporates and professionals are also taught ways to produce quality vegetable seedlings at a nominal fee.
"The idea is to transfer applied research and technologies to the farmers in various states across India. While Israel has already entered into agreement with seven state governments to set up these centres, the most successful model has been Haryana," said Israeli Embassy spokesman Ohad Horsandi.
At present there are 10 such Centres of Excellence with a special focus on mangoes, pomegranates and citrus fruits. By 2015, their number will increase to 28 as they also branch out to flowers, bee keeping and dairying.
According to S K Yadav, project manager of the Gharaunda centre, over 60 farmers, not only from Haryana but also from states like Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and even Tamil Nadu, visit the centre daily. Last year, over 16,000 farmers were trained at the centre.
Diverse technologies are demonstrated to the farmers so that they can choose the technology that suits them best and maximize their yield and profits,

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