Despite numerous challenges, Israel succeeded in transforming its agriculture sector and emerged as a world leader in agriculture and water management.
Israel records the highest cow-milk productivity in the world (13,000 liters vs. 6000 liters in Europe), the highest tomato yield (300 tons per hectare vs. 50 globally) and the lowest post-harvest grain loss globally with a mere 0.5% loss compared to 20% globally. As a result of these achievements, many developing countries are turning to Israel to learn from it.
While Israel is not a natural nor seemingly sensible place for agriculture, with two-thirds of the land semi-arid or arid, a shortage of natural water resources, scarcity of precipitation and positioned far from potential export markets – the opposite is true for most African countries.
Compounding such difficulties, most of the early immigrants to Israel had no prior farming experience and on arrival faced arid, barren or swampy landscapes.
While some factors of success are unique to Israel and not replicable, such as its strong ideological ties to agriculture and the pioneering mindset, there are others that are.
First is effective government, particularly Israel’s approach in the 1950s and 1960s. It consistently showed visionary leadership in a long-term commitment to agriculture and water. In its early years, 30 percent of its national budget was devoted to agricultural and water, with another 30 percent being devoted to education. This led to early investment in an effective institutional architecture and a robust and targeted agro-industrial policy with dedicated and well-run plant production and marketing boards that ensured specific sub-sectors (fruit, vegetables, etc.) could flourish in competitive markets. “Farmers cannot sell their crops in Covent Garden,” the former head of Israel’s citrus board said, “so they need a bigger structure above them to fix that problem.”
Second is the organization of farmers. From the beginning, Israel’s farmers were either organized in well-managed and effective cooperatives – kibbutzim and moshavim – or were private farmers represented by a farmers’ association. This connection to a larger unit of production, proved critical in facilitating farmers’ bargaining power, enabling them to compete and function effectively, granting access to finance, research, training, farm inputs and markets.
Third is an unequivocal market-oriented approach. The market served as a guiding star for planning, prioritization and coordination, for both government and farmers. Crucially, from the outset there was parallel development of both the local market for food security and self-sufficiency, and the international export market for economic growth. The export market was always a key driver in Israel’s agriculture research, which has always been focused on how it can improve the country’s competitive advantage in target value chains. This is how Israel has come to lead the world in numerous products including dates, pomegranates, oranges and tomatoes.
Fourth, Israel has a farmer-centric, multidisciplinary innovation system focused on problem solving – “Nothing is impossible until we prove it is impossible,” said Zion Deko, director of a local R&D station. Key to this relentless approach is the golden triangle: the close relationship and flat hierarchy between researchers, agricultural extension workers and farmers. This is supplemented by agro-industry, which is essential to commercialize innovative solutions and make them available nationwide.
“Israel’s impressive and well-funded innovation ecosystem is central to its success in agriculture and water management,” says Abraham. “It not only provides solutions to problems faced by farmers and actors along the value chain, but continually develops new opportunities for the sector. At the forefront is Israel’s national agricultural R&D center – the Volcani Center – as well as a world-class extension service.”
“Israel’s impressive and well-funded innovation ecosystem is central to its success in agriculture and water management,” says Abraham. “It not only provides solutions to problems faced by farmers and actors along the value chain, but continually develops new opportunities for the sector. At the forefront is Israel’s national agricultural R&D center – the Volcani Center – as well as a world-class extension service.”
Finally, the way international support was channeled at Israel’s early stages of development meant that the government could spend these resources according to its own development plan. In this way the country could direct resources to where it needed them most. For example, as early as the 1950s funds were used to build a 250 km water pipe – a project deemed impractical by multiple engineers at the time – from Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) in the north to the Negev desert in the south. This was a key component in the successful agricultural utilization of the desert lands (over 40% of Israel’s vegetables are grown in the desert, including 90% of exported melon).
These are instructive and powerful lessons for officials and professionals who are grappling with the challenge of transforming agriculture in developing countries in Africa and beyond. Each developing country needs to chart its own path to success based on its unique characteristics and competitive advantages. But if governments, researchers, development partners, farmer representatives and the private sector could apply these five insights to their work, Israel’s agriculture and water phenomena can truly serve as an inspiration for developing countries seeking such a transformation.
