India and Israel are coming together to set up a centre for excellence in floriculture at Thally in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu.

The centre, the first agro-technology development centre to be set up with Israel’s assistance in the State, would be officially inaugurated on Thursday. Gil Haskel, head of Israel’s agency for international development cooperation Mashav; Union Minister of State Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister R Doraikannu are expected to attend the function.

The centre at Thally and a similar centre planned for vegetables to be established in Dindigul form the part of a three-year Indo-Israel agricultural partnership signed between Mashav and mission for integrated development of horticulture of the Agriculture Ministry. The Dindigul centre, specialising in vegetables such as capsicum, cucumber and tomatoes, is expected to be launched in January next year.

These centres would not only develop agricultural practices suitable for selected geographical regions, but would also transfer the best practices to farmers in and around.

“By the end of the project, we plan to have 30 such Indo-Israel centres of excellence in agriculture in India. Currently, we have 20 such centres in nine States,” Haskel said here.

More such centres of excellence are planned in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in near future, said Dan Alluf, an Israeli Embassy official. Centres in Karnataka would come up in Dharwar, Kolar and Bagalkot and would focus on vegetables, mangoes and pomegranate, respectively. The centre in Andhra Pradesh would come up in Kuppam and would work on both floriculture and vegetable research.

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