Israel Plans to Share Agri-tech with Africa

Israel will soon share agricultural technology and know-how with African nations that are having difficulty sustaining their crops because of drops in precipitation levels, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon stated.

Simhon talked about Israel’s skills and technology in the agriculture sector, touching on irrigation and water management, during a trip to Senegal, Gabon and Ivory Coast. He said that the goal of his tour of the area was to see how Israel could share its farming knowledge.

Currently, 10 million people in West and Central Africa are dealing with shortages of food caused by lack of rain.

Touring Senegal, Simhon told Reuters, "We are not arriving here in Africa to take resources from the African countries. We are coming here in order to give know-how and abilities to these countries to develop."

He said that Israel is the only nation on Earth that has succeeded in conquering the desert. “More than 50 per cent of our exports are coming from semi-arid areas. This is our strength. This we would like to bring here."

The minister spoke about Israel aiding Senegal to reduce its need for imports. Today, the country has to import approximately 80 per cent of its food.

"Senegal's traditional agriculture is one crop a year. We know how to do three and four crops a year. We can teach that," said Simhon.

Currently, Senegal has multiple Israeli-backed projects studying a technique that uses low-pressure drip irrigation to enhance agricultural output. Israeli farmers have been at the forefront of modern drip irrigation techniques as well as water recycling technology.

Agriculture specialists say that such techniques could open up farming in Africa, a continent full of parched agricultural lands which are becoming increasingly hard hit by the effects of climate change.

"One of the most important things is the water technology and usage. The world is drying up. There is less water, there is less rain days," Simhon said. "In Israel we are using recycled water, desalinated water, rain water, salty water.”

He added that new farming methods over the last 10 years have given Israeli farmers the ability to use 30 per cent less water while doubling their productivity. Israel now has a 150 per cent surplus of food.

“We have over-production in Israel. It would have been very easy for us just to load the boat or the airplane ... but we think we can do it differently," he said. "We are coming with the knowledge, the expertise, with the willingness to share it with other countries."

Simhon would not elaborate on specific amounts of agricultural aid Israel may give to African nations or whether Israeli firms would be directly involved.

He said that he was leaving it up to African countries to decide what their main needs are and then ask for help in that area.

The UN has stated that the world needs to do more to fix the underlying reasons for Africa’s reoccurring food shortages.