Israel's Ministry of Agriculture has formulated plans to increase the agricultural export by 10 per cent a year for each of the next five years. Minister Israel Katz said this week that the eventual aim is "to reach the target of a 50 per cent increase in the volume of export at the end of five years from today".

The specifics of the plan are based on the application of new technologies for cultivating fruits and vegetables under closed structures, such as nets, tunnels and specially built greenhouses, which will improve the quality of fresh produce, save water and enable growers to produce year-round. In addition, the Ministry will promote and support producers that apply Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems and reduce the use of pesticides to meet European food safety standards.

At a meeting with managers of the country's major exporters and distributors of fresh produce, growers and farmers' organisations, Minister Katz said that one of the objectives is also to increase the export of fresh and processed produce to the North American market and to the Far East.

He noted that in 2002 the total export of fresh and processed products amounted to US$2.3 billion, of which US$620m came from fresh produce. In 1998, Israel recorded an all-time record for exports of fresh produce, to the tune of US$809m, but from that year on volumes and value have declined. The forecast for 2003 for export of fresh produce is US$650m.

Topics