Israel to help India set up centre of excellence for dairy

India and Israel today entered into an agreement to set up a centre of excellence to boost the dairy sector in Haryan at an investment of Rs 15 crore.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on this was signed today between the Haryana Government and Israel's international development agency MASHAV.

This centre of excellence is aimed at training Haryana farmers about Israel's technology on raising the productivity of dairy sector in India, the world's largest milk producer.

The MoU is part of the joint agreement on agriculture co-operation signed between the two countries.

Already, 9 such centre of excellence are operational in India and 19 others are being set up to promote fruits and vegetables. This is the first time Israel is partnering with India in dairy sector.

"Haryana is aiming to enhance its per capita availability of milk with the help of Israeli techniques. I hope with this collaboration Haryana would emerge as the top milk producing state in the country..," State Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar told reporters after signing of the agreement here.

Haryana is currently at third position in milk production in the country after Gujarat and Punjab.

A feasibility study for the proposed centre has already been conducted by Israeli experts. It would be established in the already existing State Cattle Breeding Project at Hisar.

"Field of agriculture is one of the main fields of cooperation between India and Israel..In Haryana we have our flagship centre of excellence in horticulture and we hope same will be the case in dairy sector..," Israel's Deputy Chief of Mission Yahel Vilan said.

The major objective of the proposed centre would be to establish a model dairy farm with Israel's cost-effective and innovative dairy technologies accustomed to local conditions for achieving an intensive dairy production system of global standards.

"Being a model demonstration unit for the farmers in the country, the centre would help to motivate livestock owners and entrepreneurs to adopt newer, economically beneficial technologies," Dhankar added.

The centre would be 100 per cent sponsored by the Indian government, through Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY). It will have customised modern dairy sheds for 110 cows with a potential of expending it to 300 cows, calves barnes, feed centre, milking parlour, mini dairy plant and waste water treatment plant.

According to the agreement, the centre would import frozen semen and also directly transferable sexed frozen embryos from Israel.

It would also have a mini dairy plant for on-site production of value added products to enhance economic returns, which would be an integral part of the project.