Punjab's progressive farmers are set to learn skills being already adopted by Israel as Punjab chief minister(CM) Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday has asked his officials to include state's progressive farmers in the proposed delegation to be headed to Israel in September.

Expressing concern over the depleting water table, the CM sought Israeli support in helping farmers adopt innovative techniques in drip irrigation and hydroponics to tackle the water problem. An official spokesperson said, Punjab and Israel are set to cooperate each other across a wide range of subjects, including defence, agriculture, horticulture and water conservation.

He also added that the CM has suggested that his delegation to Israel could include some progressive farmers. To take forward the discussions, Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon during a meeting in Chandigarh invited Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh to visit Israel in September. The delegation invited the CM to coincide his visit with Water Technology and Environmental Control Exhibition and Conference (WATEC) Israel – an international professional exhibition to be held in Tel Aviv from 12 to 14 September, which would offer a platform to showcase latest technologies in water and environment. While defense is on top priority for cooperation between Israel and Punjab, the CM is also keen to use Israeli expertise to promote horticulture, dairy farming, bee-keeping, irrigation and water conservation in the state.

Besides working on a strategic partnership on water conservation and agriculture, the two sides also decided to set up a joint working group on agriculture, horticulture and dairy farming. This was the second meeting between Captain Amarinder and the Israeli envoy since the former took over as Punjab CM. At their last meeting, held in April, the two sides had agreed to explore the possibility of setting up a Punjab-Israel working group for continuous dialogue on issues of mutual interest, said the spokesperson.

The Israeli envoy evinced keen interest in setting up more Centres of Excellence (CoE) to promote agriculture diversification across the state after the huge success of its two such existing CoE at Kartarpur (Jalandhar) and Hoshiarpur. "These centres had been instrumental in introducing high yielding varieties of fruits, vegetables, new farm practices under controlled conditions, net farming, drip and sprinkler irrigation," said the spokesperson.