A foreign touch!

Spread over 15 acres, ‘Centre of Excellence for Vegetables’ (an Indo-Israel project) in Kartarpur, Punjab, came into existence on December 24, 2013 and since has been fulfilling its purpose of providing a suitable platform for a rapid transfer of technology to farmers. The project was inaugurated by Punjab’s then Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Israel’s ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz aiming at proper implementation and adaptation of Israeli techniques to multiply the production drastically and raise the quality.

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The centre has shown a new way to farmers by moving on from using primitive techniques and adopting new agriculture technologies such as protected cultivation, drip irrigation, fertigation, now being implemented by them to increase their yield and income taking into consideration a sustainable use of water, fertilisers and pesticides.

Major activities include standardisation and demonstration of vegetables under different protected structures, hi-tech nursery, doorstep delivery of vegetable seedlings, post-harvest management facilities and sale outlet. Scientists and experts from various state universities, and farmers visit the centre regularly. The centre has hi-tech polyhouse, naturally ventilated polyhouse, eight walk-in tunnels, and six net houses. Demonstration of different hybrids, Israeli veggies hybrids is done in protected structures.

It also serves as a platform for discussing and solving farmers’ problems apart from giving proper guidance and recommendations. Three days’ training is also provided to them every month and the officials associated with the centre ensure that every new technology reaches to farmers.

Dr Daljit Singh Gill, project director, said every year the cultivation of new variety of the vegetable is tried with these advanced techniques, and the results are observed minutely, and if it is successful, they further guide farmers and encourage them to adopt the method and variety too.