Delhi-Tel Aviv tech cooperation goes much beyond arms deals, Consulting Editor Tathagata Bhattacharya writes
As the 4X4 tyres eat up the tarmac that cuts through the Judean Desert, south of Jerusalem, my eyes get alternatively transfixed on the Dead Sea to my left and the stony, rugged terrain to my right. Less than 50 mm rain, highest salinity level in the world and virtually no soil to till – the conjunction of these factors point to the impossibility of survival of plant life. But then, the steed takes a sharp right turn and at the head of the turnpike leading to Kibbutz En Gadi, I meet Ron Meir. Over the next one hour, he takes me through a crash course on ‘greening a desert’ as we walk past some 5000 plants belonging to 1,000 species, some of them like the Amazonian Ceiba reaching a few hundred feet into the sky. The whole world has taken note of the greening achievements of Israel and India is going a step further, trying to rope in that expertise to maximise agricultural output and by trying horticulture and plantation projects in the arid and semi-arid tracts of the country.
At the heart of the Israeli success story has been the contribution of Bezalel Eliahu who migrated to the Promised Land in 1954 from Kerala. He pioneered the concept of ‘fertigation,’ which means using drip irrigation to reach both water and food to the plant’s roots. “Plants need to eat and drink. So we mix liquid fertiliser with water and reach the mixture at its base. Since the plant gets all the nutrients at its base, the roots don’t grow out much. This allows more intensive planting. In India, since there is abundant rainfall and a lot of alluvial soil, we don’t respect these aspects. But with climate change and the realisation that a lot of land is actually lying fallow, change will come. In Israel, when we came, we were faced with the harshest conditions. So we became kings of innovation. India can certainly benefit from our expertise,” he says.
The Indian government is on an overdrive to rope in Israeli technologies. Farm secretary T. Nanda Kumar is expected to visit Israel in February to hasten the technology transfer process. The efforts are bearing fruit. A pilot project on olive plantation in Rajasthan, near Jaipur, is currently underway on 210 hectares. The Rajasthan government is partnering Israeli firm Indolive Limited and an Indian company, Plastro Plasson Industries, for the project which saw 50,000 saplings planted. The test run, if successful, can lead to greening of the Thar desert, apart from generating livelihood for locals.
As the 4X4 tyres eat up the tarmac that cuts through the Judean Desert, south of Jerusalem, my eyes get alternatively transfixed on the Dead Sea to my left and the stony, rugged terrain to my right. Less than 50 mm rain, highest salinity level in the world and virtually no soil to till – the conjunction of these factors point to the impossibility of survival of plant life. But then, the steed takes a sharp right turn and at the head of the turnpike leading to Kibbutz En Gadi, I meet Ron Meir. Over the next one hour, he takes me through a crash course on ‘greening a desert’ as we walk past some 5000 plants belonging to 1,000 species, some of them like the Amazonian Ceiba reaching a few hundred feet into the sky. The whole world has taken note of the greening achievements of Israel and India is going a step further, trying to rope in that expertise to maximise agricultural output and by trying horticulture and plantation projects in the arid and semi-arid tracts of the country.
At the heart of the Israeli success story has been the contribution of Bezalel Eliahu who migrated to the Promised Land in 1954 from Kerala. He pioneered the concept of ‘fertigation,’ which means using drip irrigation to reach both water and food to the plant’s roots. “Plants need to eat and drink. So we mix liquid fertiliser with water and reach the mixture at its base. Since the plant gets all the nutrients at its base, the roots don’t grow out much. This allows more intensive planting. In India, since there is abundant rainfall and a lot of alluvial soil, we don’t respect these aspects. But with climate change and the realisation that a lot of land is actually lying fallow, change will come. In Israel, when we came, we were faced with the harshest conditions. So we became kings of innovation. India can certainly benefit from our expertise,” he says.
The Indian government is on an overdrive to rope in Israeli technologies. Farm secretary T. Nanda Kumar is expected to visit Israel in February to hasten the technology transfer process. The efforts are bearing fruit. A pilot project on olive plantation in Rajasthan, near Jaipur, is currently underway on 210 hectares. The Rajasthan government is partnering Israeli firm Indolive Limited and an Indian company, Plastro Plasson Industries, for the project which saw 50,000 saplings planted. The test run, if successful, can lead to greening of the Thar desert, apart from generating livelihood for locals.
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