Israeli agritech firms show growing interest in Chinese market

JERUSALEM - Israeli agritech firms, particularly famous for their high-efficient irrigation technology, are showing their great interest in further expanding their business in Chinese market and cooperation with Chinese partners.

In the three-day Agritech Israel 2018 event, which was concluded Thursday, Israeli agritech firms, together with their peers from other countries, presented their advanced technologies and equipment in the agritech field such as high-efficient irrigation technology, water filtration, farming machinery, organic farming and crop breeding.

"China today is one of the biggest markets for irrigation in the world and it will continue to grow," said Gal Yarden, vice president of the Israel-based Netafim, the inventor of dripping irrigation technology and also the world's leading irrigation system provider.

There is not only a great support from the Chinese government in the development of irrigation technology, but also vast investment from the Chinese sector, Yarden told Xinhua.

In May 2016, Netafim operated its first plant in China in the northwestern city of Yinchuan, to produce advanced dripperline products.

Yarden added that more and more Chinese customers prefer to buy safe and clean vegetables and fruits, and such diet shift creates a lot of cooperation opportunities between his company and Chinese companies.

Agritech Israel is one of the most important agricultural professional exhibitions in the world, which is held once every three years.

This year is the 20th event and also the largest in scale, which attracted more than 10,000 delegates from the world, including several hundreds of Chinese delegates.

"We are in China for more than 20 years," said Ran Israeli, CEO of the Israel-based Bermad, the world's leading manufacturer of hydraulic control valves.

Israeli told Xinhua that his company has a lot of cooperation with Chinese companies.

"China is open today to new technology and also has advanced technology means such as communications and clouds," said Israeli. "We are looking for more cooperation in the future, and I am sure about this."

Challenges from global warming, climate change, extreme weather phenomena, water deficiency and desertification require extensive and profound approaches and sustainable solutions for efficient farming on the edge of the desert. This is why such a large number of delegates from all over the world were rushing to Israel to seek solutions.

Israel, though its water resources are in extreme shortage, has achieved great success in agricultural sector with the application of high-efficient water management solutions, especially precise irrigation technology.

As early as in the 1990s, China conducted cooperation with Israel in water-saving irrigation, and the technology of drip irrigation has been used widely in China.

Advanced crop breeding technology also played an important role in the event. Haim Davidi, a cucumber breeder from Israeli company Origene Seeds, presented new cucumber species at his company booth.

China is also developing new cucumber species and has advanced green houses, Davidi told Xinhua. "China is a huge market and is developing rapidly."

Though so far his company does not have cooperation in China yet, it hopes to have in the future, said Davidi.