Nearly 2,000 Indian farmers visited the 18th International Agricultural Exhibition, which concluded recently in Tel Aviv. They had come to learn of new technologies to increase crop yield.
The exhibition is held every three years.
“From Gujarat and Maharashtra alone, more than 1,200 farmers — 600 from each State — and approximately 40 from Tamil Nadu visited the fair,” said Sanyal Desai CEO, Radeecal Communications, one of the companies that represented India at the exhibition.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also attended the event.
The Tamil Nadu delegation was led by organic farming activist Thooran N. “Each of us spent Rs.1,05,000 from our own pocket to attend this exhibition. In Gujarat or Maharashtra, it was the government that sponsored the visit. No one from the government informed us. We got to know of this from some sources and then booked tickets through travel agents,” says Mr. Thooran.
He reckons that India is better and richer than Israel in natural resources like water.
“But in Israel, farmers have been able to succeed because the government supports them. It is fully aware that agriculture is the base of human development, and encourages its farmers.”
Thrifty water use
The delegation members all agree that the visit has made them more aware of the need for thrifty use of water and the importance of farmers’ co-operatives for marketing produce.
“Israel has been able to succeed in agriculture because it uses water sparingly and makes full use of solar energy. Both these have been a thing of contempt and neglect in our country,” says D. Palanisamy, a Coimbatore farmer.
Seek government support
The farmers feel that they can also work wonders, increasing yield or making optimum use of water. All they want is encouragement and motivation from the State government.
(This correspondent was a part of the media delegation that visited Israel recently.)
Keywords: International Agricultural Exhibition
Visit to farms in Israel is highly educative especially packing houses and co- operative marketing.Late Prime Minister Ben Gurion started Kibutz system of collective farming during the formative period of Israel as a state when immigrants came from all over the globe.Failure of Kibutz led to establishment of Mosav where land ownership belongs to producer-farmer.High tech horticulture - protected cultivation,high density orcharding,fertigaton,root stock breeding,use of hybrids,top working,commercial floriculture with direct marketing with Holland auction houses,flower forcing by vernalization,organic horticulture,biodegradable packing materials,etc etc are a few of striking notes I made years back.Since then farmer friendly technologies with positive government policies including high invisible subsidies have boosted agriculture especially horticulture.Israel is a blessed land having all possible agro- ecological conditions which make Israel to grow all high value crops for export.
Politicians of all shades in India have differing philosophies but a common objective - to feather their own nests and nothing else. Hence, just like how the IT industry found its own feet and grew through individual entrepreneurial urge, Indian farmers would have to find their own mojo rather than expect governments to help. If Indian businesses had depended on governments India would still be in the financial quagmire of the early 1990s.
Since TN agro is the most predominant sector for TN eco. Govt.'s should oversees maintain recognized standards of agro, research and marketing. Introduce organic farming, soil conditioner like vermiculite and drip irrigation. Encourage formers to adopt new tech in field crops which is the most of the formers lacking knowledge and wasting time, money and energy. Quantity and quality of crop should be improved through developing new seed and plant varieties. Govt. should sponsor more former from all the region equally to attend the conference. Selected region former are doing very well like Dindugal & Udumalai (Veg., Fruits & Poultry), Coimbatore (Sugar,flower & cotton), Erode(Turmeric,rice,sugar & cotton) salem-namakkal (tapioca, sugar, cotton, milk, poultry, etc). Cauvery Delta is producing all but very low in yield, lacking knowledge in forming and wasting water resource.
We in India cant adopt those technologies used in Israel, their idea in a box is good for Pilot projects not for large scale cultivation, IL engagement model is also not adoptive, they will ask for huge money for technology, which will not be productive in India, I have known so many have paid and eventually landed up in looses. As farmers feel, they need good support from State Governments, if farmer need to use Sprinklers on our large green field, Government need to support in Infrastructure, but these demands to be laid down when leader come seeking for Vote, post elections, these demands will fall into deaf ears.
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