Business Guide | Israel-India 2022

Harvesting the Crops of Collaboration I ndia's climate includes all the 15 major climatic features in the world (from humid and dry tropical in the south to temperate alpine in the north), and 46 of the existing 60 soil types. This diversity has great impact on local ecosystems. Themassive Indian peninsula can thus contain almost any sorts of crop. During the 2019 - 20 crop years, food grain production reached a record 296 . 65 million tones. Consumer spending in Indiawill grow in 2021 post thePandemic-led contraction, expanding by as much as 6 . 6 %. Actually, India is self-sufficient in a number of food staples, mostly in grains. However, the production is resource intensive, cereal centric and regionally biased. This raises serious sustainability issues and creates increasing stress onwater resources. Desertification and land degradation also pose major threats to agriculture in the country. Another problem is the lowproductivity rate. India’s total factor productivity growth remains below 2 %per annum (compared to 6 % in China, for example). Poorly maintained infrastructure, inadequate physical access tomarket and excessive regulation are some of the historical reasons for the less-than sufficient productivity level. Furthermore, 70 % of India's rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82 % of farmers being small and marginal. And if small farmers experience one bad year, famine and poverty may result. Action Plan to increase productivity First, schemes and budgets - the Central Government in India has initiated quite a few multiannual plans and initiatives in order to increase growth and improve the welfare of farmers. Among these schemes are: ●● Providing farmers with information on nutrient status of the soil, so that they can improve their soil fertility. ●● Creating storage capacity with facilities in rural areas, hence allowing farmers to store agricultural goods with standardization in quality control. ●● Subsidizing insurance for farmers’ crops. ●● Promoting Sustainable Agriculture through climate change adaptation measures. * Funding micro irrigation and harnessing rain water. * Promoting organic farming, thus improving soil health and organicmatter content and enabling organic farmers to charge premium prices. * Proposingassistanceand incentives in the foodprocessing sector. * Enabling e-marketing platform at a national level. * Assuring the welfare of fishermen - providing fisheries training and extension services. * Allowing livestock insurance for farmers against death of cattle animals. Total agriculture commodities exports reached USD 17 . 19 billion betweenMarch 2020 and February 2021 . India'smain agricultural export goods are wheat and other cereals, non-Basmati rice, soyameal, rawcotton, sugar, spices and more. It is the world's second largest producer of dried fruits, textile rawmaterials, roots and tuber crops, pulses, farmed fish, eggs, coconut, sugarcane and numerous vegetables. India already saw tremendous growth of 727 % forWheat export and 132 % for (Non-Basmati) Rice export during 2020 - 21 . Will this trend go on? The change, so it seems, is happening right before our eyes. How Israel can assist Indian agriculture? Israel’s farming professionals can offer an ecosystem of innovation – watering systems, greenhouse, plant-soil, Israeli Expertise in Automated Agriculture can assist India in many ways Israel-India > Business Guide > 2022 32 > Agriculture &Water > Review: Agriculture