A team of 20 farmers from Kerala will tour Israel from February 12 to 19 as part of ‘farmer exposure tours’ planned by the State Agriculture Department.
The Israel visit will be the first such tour planned by the department under the ‘National and international agricultural technology exposure tours’ aimed at acquainting Kerala farmers with the latest global trends and technologies in farming.
The team will tour important agricultural research centres, hi-tech farms, and agricultural industrial centres, during their visit to Israel. The programme is aimed at encouraging farmers from the State to adopt and promote new techniques, especially against the backdrop of climate change and the need for resilient cropping systems.
The programme is also aimed at boosting agriculture-related industries in the State. The Agriculture department had received around 47 applications, out of which 11 were rejected. The list was whittled down to 20 after a screening process, officials said.
The department had started accepting aplications in December from ‘innovative farmers’ below 50 years of age with more than 10 years of experience and owing over one acre of cultivated land. The initial deadline of December 29 was later extended to January 12 due to insufficient number of candidates.
