Ministers from the Argentinean Province of Tucumán visit Israel to learn about its agricultural innovation. “One has to learn from the best. It is a miracle what Israel has done”, said Virginia Avila, Tucumán’s Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs.
It took just a couple of hours at KKL-JNF
Gilat Nursery in the
Negev for the visiting Argentinean ministerial delegation to declare that this particular stop was one of the highlights of their trip to Israel. The group was comprised of two ministers and a deputy minister from the province Tucumán in the north-west of Argentina, who came to Israel for eight days to look and learn. They said that the tour was also to prepare for the visit to Israel of Tucumán Governor Juan Luis Manzur, which is tentatively scheduled for November 2018.
On arriving at the gate of the KKL-JNF Gilat Nursery on Wednesday, July 18, the visitors were met by Nursery Director
Pablo Chercasky, who himself hails from Argentina, and KKL-JNF project coordinator for Latin American Department
Eldad Gafni. Delegation members were delighted to be able to converse with the nursery director in their native Spanish.
Tucumán is the smallest and most densely populated province of Argentina. It is well known for its temperate
climate, good soil, and abundance of
water. However, along with these favored ecological conditions, the province is struggling to improve its
agricultural output.
The tour of the
Gilat nursery began with a brief introduction to the 50-acre facility, which serves as a testing ground for trees from all over the world, to find which species are suitable for growing in Israel.
While leading his guests through the nursery Pablo told them that they produce around one million saplings a year, which are intended for afforestation, parks, schools and other locations.
“We also
educate the public about the benefits of ecology, greenery, and trees in particular. People generally do not know that they do not need huge amounts of water to create lush gardens”, he said.
He showed them the seeds that are produced and stored in a gigantic refrigerator and described the selection process. They saw unique methods used for cooling the air in a hothouse in order to help the plants germinate.
“The cardboard like-walls act like a common desert-cooler”, Chercasky explained. “They are saturated with water and then huge fans suck the moisture into the air. As the water evaporates the temperature drops.”
Virginia Avila, Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Tucumán, said that those types of Israeli developments are exactly what they need. She was fascinated by the simple but effective way to cool the hothouse:
“Our province is rich in terms of natural resources and we are working to capacity to benefit from those resources. However, we have come to the limit of our ability. We need to learn how to increase production because demand is rising. That is why we came to Israel. One has to learn from the best. It is a miracle what Israel has done.”
In the orchards, Tucumán Minister of development and production Juan Luis Fernandez showed special interest in the dark plastic sheeting on the ground in between the fruit trees, which prevent weed growth. He also was fascinated by the “quick pots” used at the nursery to grow saplings. Chercasky demonstrated how the pots are kept elevated from the ground to prevent rooting in the hothouse soil, and to encourage a stronger, longer network of roots in the pots for future growth at the final destination.
Fernandez told his host that the Tucumán province is small, like Israel, and tries to be innovative, like Israel.
“We have a similar facility as this in Tucumán and we also look for plants and species that we may benefit from. Our main local production is sugar cane and yellow lemons, which are crops that are also grown in Israel. I found Israeli irrigation techniques fascinating and I believe we will adopt some despite the fact that unlike Israel, we have an abundance of fresh water. One of our biggest agricultural problems is severe frost that can ruin an entire citrus crop. I am hoping that we may find a solution for that too during our tour here.”
The three Tucumán officials were fascinated by the wide range of exotic trees at the Gilat Nursery, some of which they had never seen before. They were thrilled to see a huge old ombu which is the national tree of Argentina. Pablo told them that the ombu thrives well in Israel because it does not need a lot of water.
“The ombu is in demand at city parks for shade. They are good for planting next to benches due to their umbrella-like canopy, and children can climb its wide branches while their parents enjoy the tree's shade.”
The members of the group immediately requested a group photo under the ombu. They said that their national tree growing in the Negev represents the ever-growing relations between the two countries.