Israel to assist NE states in agri sector

Aizawl, Oct 16: Israel government has decided to open an agricultural centre in Mizoram to develop the sector in the NE states.

Israel is also keen to help Mizoram and Meghalaya for marketing the agricultural and horticultural produces.

The Commercial attache from the Israel Embassy in India Zakhi Selzer, who recently visited the NE states, said his country would encourage the NE farmers to visit Israel and get a first hand knowledge of the country's agricultural practices.

''The farmers from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Nagaland have already been trained in Israel,'' Mr Selzer said.

According to plan, post-harvest technologies would be imparted to farmers of the region in phase manner and a group of farmers from Meghalaya have already been selected for the training in first phase, he added.

Mr Selzer said Israel would adopt a few villages in NE to provide expertise in developing agriculture and horticulture produces so that it could be exported to Eastern Asian countries.

However, the Foreign Affairs ministry of both the nations had to give clearance to the proposals, he maintained.

Earlier, the state government had inked a multi-crore deal with Israel Co-operation of Agriculture for combating orange plant disease in the region, sources said.

State horticulture commissioner Lalramthanga Tochhawng said 'Tam', a plant disease, has wreaked havoc in the state's famed orange farms since many years and Israeli technology would help in combat the disease.

UNI