Israel’s Ambassador Reuven Azar visited the Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Fruits in the Basti district of Uttar Pradesh and interacted with locals and farmers working at the centre and also distributed farming kits to them.
The centre was established as part of the Indo-Israel Agricultural Project, dedicated to semi-arid horticultural crops. During his visit on Wednesday, Ambassador Azar inspected the centre where mango saplings were being grown in a controlled environment. He also looked at the nurseries and the seeds used at the centre.
Speaking to ANI, Azar emphasised on the Indian government’s collaboration with Israel to use modern technologies to enhance production.
“This project of cooperation between India and Israel is one of the key cooperation project we have that were initiated by our counties under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Netanyahu. What we are trying to achieve here is to make sure that all the technologies available to help raise the quality of production.” Azar said.
He also thanked the Uttar Pradesh government for their collaborative efforts to support the farmers.
“Thanks to the team of 40 people working here in Basti. I have seen the seeds and nurseries here, they are well monitored. I thank the Government of Uttar Pradesh for subsidising. We have seen a rise in the quality and output of mangoes and vegetables. It is important to support farmers, their income and the economy of Uttar Pradesh. This centre holds 16 thousand farmers to whom they give training. In UP, we have two centres which are operating, two others being built and another one being planned. In India, we have 32 centres together with the Indian government,” Israeli Ambassador said.
He was also seen planting some mango saplings in the centre.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Ambassador visited the historic grand Ram temple of Ayodhya.
A day earlier on Tuesday, the ambassador also met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and had a quality discussion with him.
Talking about his meeting, the Ambassador said, “We discussed about agriculture, irrigation and also on the defence industries, security sector. We want to bring more Israeli investment in this region.
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(With inputs from ANI)
