• India and Israel have inked a three-year joint work programme which will continue till 2023. Joint work programme was initiated with the aim of enhancing cooperation in agriculture.
• “India and Israel started the bilateral relations in agriculture sector in 1993. So, new programme is 5th Indo-Israel Agriculture Action Plan (IIAP).
• Under new work programme, 13 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) were set up to make Indian farmers aware of Israeli farm and water technologies.
• A model ecosystem in agriculture called Villages of Excellence (VoE) will also be created across eight states within 75 villages.
• New programme will promote increase of net income and enhance livelihood of individual farmer.
• It will also transform traditional farms into modern-intensive farms on the basis of IIAP standards.
• It will also strengthen the bilateral relations and mutual cooperation between both the countries in agriculture to benefit farming community.
• These action plans are playing a significant role in doubling farmers’ income. It has improved productivity and quality of horticulture which boost farmer’s income.

Centres of Excellence (CoEs)

• 29 CoEs are operational in 12 states of India. They produce about 25 million vegetable seedlings, about 3,87,000 quality fruit plants. CoE also providing training to about 1.2 lakh farmers about latest technology which can be used in horticulture.