Israel and India can do more together, says Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today said farmers of Gujarat are reaping the benefits of technologies from his country and maintained he was ready to help India further in its endeavours.
Describing India as a country with a vision, he said both the nations can do more if they work together.
Netanyahu was speaking at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Vegetables, set up at Vadrad village of Sabarkantha district in 2015 in collaboration with Israel.
He was accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The visit to the CoE wrapped up the two leaders' day-long tour of Modi's home state. They interacted with the staff as well as farmers who have benefited from the centre.

The two PMs also inaugurated a new CoE for post harvest management of date palms at Kukma village near Bhuj town of Kutch district through remote control.

Before addressing a gathering, Modi and Netanyahu listened to some success stories from farmers as to how their yield and income saw a significant rise after acquiring technical know-how from the CoE at Vadrad.
"The most important thing is that farmers here are enjoying the benefits of the Israeli expertise, which is making their lives better and richer. This is what we are here for. To make your lives better," Netanyahu said.
The Israeli premier praised Modi's leadership.

"We have 20 Centres of Excellence and soon we will have 30 centres in India. We want to help India in helping itself. Because India has a vision.
"India has a leader who understands that knowledge is the future. Knowledge with purpose. This is the policy of Modi. This is my policy," Netanyahu said in his address.
"We can do more together and we will do," he added.
In his address, Modi expressed confidence that his mission of doubling farmers' income by 2022 will be fulfilled with the help of Israeli technology.
"We want to double farmers' income by 2022. To increase their income, we have to increase the yield on the existing land held by farmers," he said.

Modi said the West Asian country has the expertise in judicious use of water for agriculture.
"We were of the habit of filling the entire field with water, thinking it is necessary for a better yield. But it was Israel which taught us how we can do farming with very less water...through drip irrigation. Organic farming is also one of our focus areas," he said.
Over one lakh farmers have taken advantage of the CoE at Vadrad and significantly increased their income by adopting new farming technologies, Modi added.