Emphasising the significance of new technologies and experiments in agriculture and allied sector, Haryana Chief Minister (CM), Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said the state government is adopting best farm technologies including micro-irrigation of Israel so as to make the agriculture profitable.

A good combination of best practices of less land, less water and less cost can increase the productivity and make farming profitable, the CM said while farmers after inaugurating country’s first ‘Integrated Bee-keeping Development Centre’ set up under Indo-Israel project under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture at Ramnagar, Kurukshetra on Friday.

This project has been set up on 25 acres of land at a cost of Rs.10.5 Crore. Describing Israeli farm technologies as best, Khattar said that four Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence in the areas of Vegetables, Fruits and bee-keeping had already been established in the state and two another such centres of fruits and dairy sector were under process.

He urged the farmers to adopt best practices to make agriculture profitable. There are 13 bee-breeders in this centre which would be increased to 32 by next year. State government is providing subsidy of Rs four lakh per bee-breeder.

The CM said replicating world’s best farm practises in Haryana for betterment of farming community would certainly help in realising the vision of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to double the income of farmers by year 2022.

Khattar also exhorted the farmers let the traditional farming and adopt crop diversification as well as organic farming to earn more profit on less land and increase soil fertility.

Describing the present government as pro-farmer, the CM said that the state government had given Rs 2450 Crore as compensation to farmers during last three years, whereas about Rs1300 Crore was disbursed by the previous governments during 48 years.

Farmers are the backbone of our nation and it is our duty to empower and strengthen them, he added.

Speaking on this occasion, Ambassador to Israel to India, Daniel Carmon said that the objective to set up this centre was to empower the farmers. He said that Israel will hold a conference on Agro-technologies in May 2018.

Agriculture and farmers welfare minister, OP Dhankar said that after this centre, state government would replicate the dairy technology of Israel at Hisar. A team of expert would visit Haryana in the month of December for this purpose, he said.