"We need to encourage and subsidize agriculture and strengthen our farms"

[najmulislam77]

As part of the second day of the Israel Agriculture Conference, a special session was held on the subject of plant protection assessments regarding the issue of the reform that could introduce pests into the country and endanger public health, with the participation of MK Mofid Meri (Blue and White), Dr. Nimrod Israeli - plant protection expert, Dr. Zagron Gal - Director of the Pests and Pest Control Division at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Hezi Daniel - farmer and secretary of the Ahituv Agricultural Association, and Rani Barnes - farmer.



MK Mofid Mari noted: "We are attentive as a party, we are all remove background image committed to the benefit of agriculture - the farmers are the ones who have to decide in the process of formulating the reform. Ultimately, we look at the danger of imports and biological invasion, the cost versus benefit, how we promote the reduction in the threat, how we can inspect the containers and what the means are. I say - all this investment, all the cost that we must make in order to import, let's invest it in the Israeli economy in all its aspects. Let's strengthen agriculture. As soon as we import, we are effectively closing farms, we need to encourage and subsidize agriculture and strengthen our farms so that we can eat vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs produced in the country."



Rani Burns, a farmer, commented on the matter and said: "Plant protection is above the reform. Plant protection inspectors will inspect the containers. Can anyone inspect 100 containers? It's clear that pests will come in here and harm us."



Hezi Daniel, secretary of the Ahituv Agricultural Association, added : "Most of the cucumbers in the country are grown here. We have been dealing with the pests very seriously for years. 036 tons per dunam per year, we currently produce only half of that amount. This has a very difficult economic meaning for us as farmers, but also for consumers. They talk about the cost of living and blame us, here's why. We have decreased our output by almost 50% in agricultural produce."

Dr. Nimrod Israeli, a plant protection expert, commented : "Plant protection is a tremendous opportunity. In India, 50% of the mango crop was destroyed by pests. This is the situation of those who allow pests to enter. 50% of the crop there has fallen again and exports are declining. Are we in a good situation here? No. The reform is a catastrophe. It would be unthinkable in these days when we cannot fly from country to country to let agricultural produce fly from place to place."

Gal Zagron, director of the Pest and Protection Division at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, addressed the claims and said: "We are well aware of the damage that invasive pests can cause. We tried with all our might to oppose the reform and were unsuccessful. We think that the exact opposite of the reform should be done. Do you want to lower the cost of living? That will do the opposite, the price will only rise. I have not seen such reforms that have succeeded. "



Yair Eshel, Israel's attaché in India, commented on the matter and said : "I don't know the reform here, but look at what happened in India - "They wanted to make reforms a year ago and canceled it because the farmers wouldn't allow it to happen. They wanted to unite farmers and connect them to large bodies, remove minimum prices and create internet marketing, the farmers took to the streets, blocked roads, joined the public and bodies in the economy and succeeded in bringing down the reform. True, there are not 600,000 farmers here like in India. In Israel, the situation is different - but the determination of the farmers to stick to their interests and bring the public to support so that the reforms will be added value and not harm agriculture."