Israel, which is credited for greening up its Negev desert, will now soon be helping India to do the same in Rajasthan through olive plantation. So once India and Israel put their agriculture plan into motion, one will see thousands of olive plants being nurtured in the arid regions of Rajasthan. Both the nations who are celebrating their 60 years of independence have decided to collaborate in the agricultural sphere.    

 

As such, Israel has planned to station a ‘very senior level official’ from its side to oversee the agricultural project both have jointly undertaken. Diplomatic sources state that the said official will be a full-time agricultural attaché posted at the Israeli embassy in New Delhi. The decision regarding the agricultural attaché was taken after the agriculture minister of Israel, Shalom Simhon came to India earlier this year. One of the fallouts was the signing of the memorandum of understanding worth 10 million dollars in the field of agriculture.

 

The responsibility of this Israeli official will be to oversee current projects, introduce new ones and link Israeli agri-tech firms with the Indian ones. As far as Rajasthan is concerned, the project will lay focus on a demonstration zone and implementing technologies as well as practice of employing recycled water for agriculture. The plan is to bring huge tracts of arid land in Rajasthan under olive cultivation.