The officials of Israel Embassy and State Agriculture Department held a detailed meeting on various aspects of agriculture at the Mantralaya here on Friday.
Chief of Israel Economic and Trade Mission Barak Granote and Agriculture Department Additional Chief Secretary Ajay Singh were present in the meeting.
The Additional Chief Secretary gave a detailed presentation on the achievements and prospects of Chhattisgarh Agriculture during the past 13 years in the field of animal husbandry, fish culture and other issues.
Barak Granote of Israeli Embassy said that his country receives an average annual rainfall of 300 millimetre. About 80 per cent of the rain water is recycled. He added that Israel made spectacular progress in milk producing category.
The Israeli official gave a detailed presentation on the techniques adopted in horticulture crops. Israel Embassy Trade officer Akhil Chowdhary gave details of Israel's co-operation in encouraging organic farming in various parts of the world.
He called upon the Animal Husbandry, Fisheries Department, Horticulture Department officials to appoint specialists and always be in touch with the Israeli Embassy to update the techniques in agriculture of Israel.
Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati in January this year had stated that Indira Gandhi Agriculture University (IGAU), Raipur can join Centre's pilot project on promoting scientific techniques of growing more food grains using minimum water using Israeli techniques for launching the same in Chhattisgarh.
Pilot projects with the co-operation of Israel and Union Water Resources Ministry had been launched at Marathwada, Bundelkhand and Odisha, she said.
If IGAU sends a proposal for joining the pilot project, it will be launched in Chhattisgarh also, Bharti said.
She was delivering address after inaugurating the first Asian Conference on 'Water and land Management for Food and livelihood Security' here.
The Union Minister said serious efforts are being made to inter-link the various rivers of the country. The first project is to link Betwa and Kane rivers.
The linking of proposed Mahanadi-Godavari rivers will be very crucial for meeting the water and irrigation needs of many states. The cleaning of Ganga river canals had been going on at a brisk pace. Ganga river will be 'Swachchh' in the next 10 years, she said.
The first Green Revolution focussed on production of food grains but water and land management had been neglected. This had led to lack of fertility of soil in Punjab and Haryana, Bharti said.
She said that water management should become a people's movement for the development of agriculture and irrigation facilities.
The Central Government had launched 'Jal-Manthan' programme for this purpose. Water management is crucial for an agriculture-based nation like India, Bharti said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh who presided over the conference said that 'Jal-Manthan' project is very useful to Chhattisgarh.
He said the scientific technique of using less water for maximum production of food grains should be taken to farmers.
Singh said that Chhattisgarh State had the potential to supply adequate rice to fulfill the needs of entire nation. There is a need for land and water management along with scientific farming methods.
The State is supplying rice to eight states at present.
Singh said that soil, water and environment are healthy. Chhattisgarh is the only State in the country where our ancestors adopted water management techniques thousands of years ago. There are canals in every village. The land is so fertile in the State and if the concerned authorities adopt modern scientific techniques it can feed the entire nation. The meet will help in land and soil management in the State.
Meanwhile, it may be recalled that Chhattisgarh is among 13 states which had been mentioned in the Economic Survey Report 2015-16 as a success story on use of drip irrigation by farmers on their lands.
The results from an impact evaluation of National Mission on Micro Irrigation of the Union Ministry of Agriculture conducted in 64 districts of 13 states mainly – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – are revealing on the benefits of drip irrigation, according to the survey report.
There were substantial reductions in irrigation costs and savings on electricity and fertilisers .This is because water is efficiently supplied and hence pumps are used for a limited time. Moreover, water soluble fertilisers are supplied directly to the root of the plant and hence there is less wastage, it stated.
Yields of crops also went upto 45 per cent in wheat, 20 per cent in gram and 40 per cent in soybean, the report stated.
The resulting improvement in net farm incomes is substantial. Until now micro-irrigation techniques, owing to high fixed costs of adoption, have mostly been used for high value crops. However, recent research has shown its feasibility even in wheat and rice, the report stated.
Notably in February last year, the Chhattisgarh government decided to follow the Gujarat model of 'Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation' practices in the State.
It is worth mentioning here that many villages in Gujarat have adopted 100 per cent Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation systems to water crops. In June 2009, more than 93,000 farmers in Gujarat have adopted Drip Irrigation for their total 1.51 lakh hectare land.
Drip Irrigation system and inter-linking of 21 rivers of Gujarat for conservation of water has made it possible for record Sugarcane cultivation in that State.
The Gujarat Green Revolution Company ltd (GGRC) is aimed to promote Micro Irrigation System (MIS) to the farmers of Gujarat as an implementing agency on behalf of Government of Gujarat (GoG) and Government of India (GoI) to bring 2nd Green Revolution in consonance with the 'Agriculture policy of Gujarat Vision 2010' so as to save water and energy, besides multiple benefits to improve Agricultural productivity and farmer’s prosperity at large.
The Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation ltd (GAICl) and Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) adopts various programs and schemes for the Agriculture and Horticulture segment for investments and other processing subsidies in the Food Processing Sector. Agri implement service help is provided by the Gujarat government for open pipelines and purchase of Tractors, etc. Bio gas subsidies are offered with loan application, officials stated.