by Punjabnewswire4u
CHANDIGARH, OCT 19
The
Punjab Government is all set to make two Centers of Excellence for Vegetables
and Citrus operational under Indo-Israel work plan collaboration, by March 2013.
This was announced by the Punjab Chief
Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal during a meeting with the Ambassador of Israel
Mr. Alon Ushpiz who along with his team of experts, which called on him here at
Punjab Bhawan last evening. Mr. Badal said that the state government had
accelerated the pace of work for the setting up of Rs. 9.73 crore Center of
Excellence for Vegetables at Kartarpur in Jalandhar district and Rs. 10.39 crore
Center of Excellence for Citrus at Khanaura in Hoshiarpur district.
Mr. Badal apprised the visiting envoy
that Punjab’s economy was mostly an agrarian and even having less than 2% of
the entire land of the country Punjab was a major contributor of food grains to
the national kitty with its 42% share of rice and 50% that of wheat, but now
state had prepared a comprehensive plan for diversification to reduce the area under
paddy cultivation from 28 lac hectare to 16 lac hectare and needed technical
support and expertise from the advanced agrarian economy of the country like
Israel for effective diversification. He also mentioned that areas like dairy farming,
fishery besides maize, fruits & vegetables cultivation were some of the
major sectors where Israeli agri-experts could provide vital know-how and
technical support to our farmers.
Taking part in the deliberations, Mr. Ushpiz
said that Israel and India were sharing cordial ties and has special affinity
as for as the agrarian economy of both countries were concerned. He highly appreciated the Punjabis farmers who
were known for their success stories in the world and assured the Chief
Minister that the Israeli progressive farmers and experts would extend all possible
technical support in agricultural field with firm commitment and zeal. He said that Israeli farm experts and
environmentalists could also suggest some private players for water management
sector which was also a key issue as the visiting team observed that plenty of
water was being wasted in Punjab whereas in Israel they were making optimum utilization
of water by using every drop of it even after recycling the sewage water
especially for irrigation purposes.
The Israeli envoy further said that Punjabis
were excellent farmers and they could facilitate them in achieving further
advancement in agriculture through these Centers of Excellence with their
technical expertise in terms of provision of some of new varieties of different
fruits and vegetables coupled with mechanical and technical skills.
During this meeting some of the
progressive farmers also shared their views with the visiting envoy and
put-fourth their issues related to non-availability of high yielding new
variety seeds, plant dieses and post harvest problems.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister
honoured the Mr. Ushpiz and his team members by presenting Plaques as a token of love and
affection on behalf of the Punjabis.
Prominent amongst those
who were present in the meeting included, Cabinet Minister Mr. Sarwan Singh Phillaur,
Chairman Punjab Farmer's Commission Dr. GS Kalkat, Financial Commissioner
Forests Mr. DS Bains, Financial Commissioner Development Mr. GS Sandhu,
Financial Commissioner Animal Husbandry Mr. Jagpal Singh Sandhu, Special
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Vice
Chancellor PAU Dr. BS Dhillon, MD Milkfed Dr. Balwinder Singh Sidhu and
Director Horticulture Dr. Lajwinder Singh Brar.
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