National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Transfer Of Knowledge

Nepal could benefit a lot by sharing the top-class Israeli knowledge on the development of agriculture

By A CORRESPONDENT

Israel is a living example how dedication and hard work pays even in the most odd of circumstances.

Although most of their territories were semi-arid land, Israelis have blended the state-of-the-art technology; dedication of their farmers; and business acumen to turn the country into one of the leading ones in intensive agriculture production.

Nepal, on the other hand, is just the opposite. Although it has the best of natural resources, it has been unable to break the shackles of subsistence production yet.

With the intention to share Israel’s knowledge on agro-business, Israeli Embassy in Kathmandu organized Nepal-Israel Business Seminar on Agro Technology on October 12. It invited representatives of four Israeli agro companies that specialized in various sectors like poultry farming, irrigation, project development and floriculture, among others.

“In the late 19th century, when Israelis began resettling their historic homeland, their first efforts were directed towards reclaiming the mostly semi-arid land, much of which was rendered unproductive by deforestation, soil erosion and neglect. Rocky fields were cleared and terraces built in the hilly regions; swamplands were drained, and systematic reforestation begun; soil erosion was counteracted, and salty land washed to reduce soil salinity. As a result of this, since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, agricultural output has increased handsomely. The country has undergone a transition from agriculture for mere subsistence to a diversified and sophisticated agriculture, from austerity to surplus, and from production for own consumption to production for export,” said Israeli ambassador Dan Ben-Eliezer.

Nepalese officials, too, seem encouraged by the Israeli initiatives. “Nepal can learn a lot from Israel in agriculture development,” said Dr. Krishna Bahadur Shrestha, joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Although Nepal has diversified climate from alpine to tropical with possibilities to grow any type of crops, vegetables or fruits, it is yet to take off. At present its average productivity is meager 2 MT per hectare for cereal crops, and 10 MT per hectare for fruits/vegetables. “Only 33 percent of land is irrigated and most of that is in hilly region,” said Dr. Shrestha.

According to the president of Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Binod Bahadur Shrestha, Nepalese entrepreneurs want support in installing storage and packing facilities, among others.

Representatives of Agrotop, Netafim, Plastro Gvat and Pollack Nurseries - four Israeli firms - made short presentation on the respective companies and services.

After the seminar, a number of Nepalese agro-entrepreneurs interacted with the Israeli representatives to explore opportunities in partnership and technology transfer.

At a time when Nepal has become a member of the WTO, it needs to embark on the path of commercialization of agriculture and it is here that support from countries like Israel could be most effective.