Advanced Agriculture of IsraelRoots in its Decision Making Mechanism

Pengfei SHI,Liqiong LUO,Chen ZHAO,Yao LUO

1.College of Agriculture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China;

2.School of Foreign Language,Beijing Normal University,Zhuhai 519000,China;

3.College of Agriculture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China;

4.International Business Faculty,Beijing Normal University,Zhuhai 519000,China

Advanced Agriculture of IsraelRoots in its Decision Making Mechanism

Pengfei SHI1*,Liqiong LUO2,Chen ZHAO3,Yao LUO4

1.College of Agriculture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China;

2.School of Foreign Language,Beijing Normal University,Zhuhai 519000,China;

3.College of Agriculture,South China Agricultural University,Guangzhou 510642,China;

4.International Business Faculty,Beijing Normal University,Zhuhai 519000,China

In the past 70 years,Israel has not only realized the self-sufficiency of agricultural products,but also make its way to becoming one of leading exporters of agricultural products in the world rapidly.Undoubtedly,there are many reasons for this world famous"Miracle of Negev Desert"[1],but we consider the decision making mechanism as one of the most important reasons,because such a perfect integrated system consisting of researching system,experimental system and extension system is well organized and it booms the development of agriculture in Israel.

Israel;Decision making mechanism;Development;Agriculture

L ocated in the western Mediterranean strip,Israel covers an area of 2.2 square kilometers, but most ofthe land is under desertification seriously and cultivated land area only accounts for 14%[2].Furthermore,the shortage ofprecipitation and high evaporation make Israelface with a severe survivaltestsince its funding. To realize the integrated development of the whole country,Israel regards the development of modern agriculturalfacilities and advanced technology as the key to realize agriculturalmodernization.Not only that,but the mechanism of operation is of great significance,which is also worthy of our learning.

Decision Making Mechanism

The decision making mechanism’s representatives are made up of the ministry of agriculture,agricultural scientific research system and extension system,while the representatives of farmers are also the key components of this national agricultural management institution.Such a committee has the authority to review and give approvalof the nationalagriculturaldevelopmentplanning.Whatis more,following the latestdevelopment of scientific research and recognizing the research focus are also the basic functions ofthe agency.

Main Achievements of Decision Making Mechanism

Poor natural production condition emphasizes the importance of decision making mechanism on developing sustainable agricultural production and raising the efficiency in resources utilization by quantitative analysis.The right decisions made by such mechanism also ranks Israel’s advanced technologies,such as water-saving irrigation technology,sewage"farming" technology,the widely application of biological information technology in agricultural facilities,improving the quality ofcultivated crops,etc.

Developing water saving irrigation

For the purpose ofwater use efficiently and expanding effective irrigation area,Israeldevelops water saving technology as the core of agricultural modernization.One famous technology is the Drip irrigation technology.Affected by the motto of"More crops with a drop of water",Israel sets up a nationwide"the pipe"system.Since 1948,cultivated land area has increased from 435 000 hm2to 165 000 hm2and the irrigated area has increased from 231 000 hm2to 30 000 hm2[3].With a combination of irrigation technology and information technology,irrigation management has become automated.Irrigation quantity and irrigation time are allcontrolled by the computer.It is due to these reasons that water resources utilization rate in Israelreaches as high as 95%. The other well-known technology is the Sewage irrigation technology. When we visited I-Goudan sewage treatment plants,we learned 70%of the wastewater that was handled by the water treatment system could be used for non-food crops irrigation.This "sewage farming"can not only recycle the polluted water(accounting for 34% ofthe totalagriculturalwater),butalso alleviate environment pollution from wastewater.

Developing biotechnology

To realize the sustainable development of agriculture,agricultural science and technology researchers of Israel attach great importance to the development of biotechnology to cultivate high yield and good quality products.Also,they focus on improving crop quality and breeding new varieties,especially increasing the resistance to droughts and salt.Moreover, for the sake of saving and making good use of natural resources,Israel controls the amount of fertilizer and pesticides on crops strictly[4].Instead, Israel puts the biological engineering technology into use to prevent,control plant diseases and improve the quality ofthe crops.

Developing greenhouse

In order to break the restrictions on soil and climate,the scientific researchers of Israel provide the crops with microenvironment with water, temperature and fertility conditions through the establishment of greenhouses by using potted,soilless cultivation and out-soilcultivation technology to strength the artificial control, which not only effectively solves the problem of insufficient arable land of Israel,but improves the informational level of crop production.Through the real-time monitoring,the process of crop production can realize the target management and control.Meanwhile, real-time monitoring makes it possible to produce good quality and high yield crops.

Scientific Function of Decision Making Mechanism

Scientific research aims to deal with the problem of actual production

All those three independent systems combine the agriculture production with the establishmentofresearch closely,which not only ensures that scientific research project comes from the production practice directly,but the pertinence of agriculturalresearch and extension,which accelerates the crucial of the key technology in the process ofthe production practice[5].

The use of funds should be efficiently.

The fund for agricultural development in Israel is supported by national fund,bilateral international funds and Internationalfund[6].Although,they have abundant money to use,the use of fund should be effectively.This is because of the fact that scientific research projects and the use of funds are decided by the representatives of farmer,researchers and extension workers[7].

Marketdemand is the guidance

After achieving its self-sufficiency in agricultural production,the decision making mechanism turns to focus on the export of agricultural products in high quality.As"the kitchen of Europe",the agricultural production department of Israel values information collection,transmission and feedback to solve the problem of market supply at home and abroad.To dock with market in a timely manner,they make fulluse ofthe sharing of Internet to get internationaldemand information withoutdelay and then update the domestic production information on the Internetin time.In addition,Israelstrives to improve the international competitiveness of their own products by carrying on intensive planting and promoting specialization.

Conclusion

In sum,the advanced agriculture of Israelroots in its scientific decision making mechanism,because Israeldo treat the agriculture as a great project. The explicit research plan and reasonable funding use ensures the wide application of modern agricultural facilities and advanced technology to rural and agricultural systems,which improve agriculturaloutput,land productivity and labor productivity finally.Only in this way that can the enthusiasm of farmers be maneuvered adequately, which in turn ensures the agriculture of countries on rise.

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Responsible editor:Na LI

Responsible proofreader:Xiaoyan WU

*Corresponding author.E-mail:pfshi@stu.scau.edu.cn

Received:November 10,2014 Accepted:December 20,2014