• India and Israel have jointly set up a Centre of Excellence in floriculture at Thally in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. 
• It is first agro-technology development centre to be set up with Israel’s assistance in Tamil Nadu. 
• The centre at Thally and similar centre planned for vegetables to be established in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.
• These centres form part of a three-year Indo-Israel agricultural partnership signed between Mashav, Israel’s agency for international development cooperation and mission for integrated development of horticulture of Union Agriculture Ministry. 
• The Dindigul centre, specialises in vegetables such as cucumber, capsicum and tomatoes, is expected to be launched in January 2018.
• Purpose of these centres is to develop agricultural practices suitable for selected geographical regions and also transfer the best practices to farmers in and around.
• Currently, there are 20 such centres in nine States. By end of this project, 30 such Indo-Israel centres of excellence in agriculture will come up in in India. More such centres of excellence are planned in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in near future.
• Centres in Karnataka will come up in Dharwar, Kolar and Bagalkot and will focus on vegetables, mangoes and pomegranate, respectively. The centre in Andhra Pradesh will come up in Kuppam and will work on both floriculture and vegetable research.

Source:PIB