The Punjab Government is all set to make two Centers of Excellence for Vegetables and Citrus operational under Indo-Israel work plan collaboration, by March 2013.This was announced by the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a meeting with the Ambassador of Israel Alon Ushpiz who along with his team of experts, which called on him here at Punjab Bhawan last evening. Badal said that the state government had accelerated the pace of work for the setting up of Rs. 9.73 crore Center of Excellence for Vegetables at Kartarpur in Jalandhar district and Rs. 10.39 crore Center of Excellence for Citrus at Khanaura in Hoshiarpur district. Badal apprised the visiting envoy that Punjab’s economy was mostly an agrarian and even having less than 2% of the entire land of the country Punjab was a major contributor of food grains to the national kitty with its 42% share of rice and 50% that of wheat, but now state had prepared a comprehensive plan for persification to reduce the area under paddy cultivation from 28 lac hectare to 16 lac hectare and needed technical support and expertise from the advanced agrarian economy of the country like Israel for effective persification. He also mentioned that areas like dairy farming, fishery besides maize, fruits & vegetables cultivation were some of the major sectors where Israeli agri-experts could provide vital know-how and technical support to our farmers. Taking part in the deliberations, Ushpiz said that Israel and India were sharing cordial ties and has special affinity as for as the agrarian economy of both countries were concerned. He highly appreciated the Punjabis farmers who were known for their success stories in the world and assured the Chief Minister that the Israeli progressive farmers and experts would extend all possible technical support in agricultural field with firm commitment and zeal. He said that Israeli farm experts and environmentalists could also suggest some private players for water management sector which was also a key issue as the visiting team observed that plenty of water was being wasted in Punjab whereas in Israel they were making optimum utilization of water by using every drop of it even after recycling the sewage water especially for irrigation purposes. The Israeli envoy further said that Punjabis were excellent farmers and they could facilitate them in achieving further advancement in agriculture through these Centers of Excellence with their technical expertise in terms of provision of some of new varieties of different fruits and vegetables coupled with mechanical and technical skills.During this meeting some of the progressive farmers also shared their views with the visiting envoy and put-fourth their issues related to non-availability of high yielding new variety seeds, plant dieses and post harvest problems. On the occasion, the Chief Minister honoured the Ushpiz and his team members by presenting Plaques as a token of love and affection on behalf of the Punjabis.Prominent amongst those who were present in the meeting included, Cabinet Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Chairman Punjab Farmer's Commission Dr. GS Kalkat, Financial Commissioner Forests DS Bains, Financial Commissioner Development GS Sandhu, Financial Commissioner Animal Husbandry Jagpal Singh Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Vice Chancellor PAU Dr. BS Dhillon, MD Milkfed Dr. Balwinder Singh Sidhu and Director Horticulture Dr. Lajwinder Singh Brar.