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The Avocado
The avocado tree, whose generic name is PERSEA AMERICANA, of the Lauraceal family, originated in Central America. Most of the avocados grown in Israel are of the Guatemalan variety.
Avocado trees were first introduced into this country in the twenties but planting on a commercial scale only began in the fifties. This branch of Israeli agriculture was advanced by successful research, by adapting the varieties of fruit and by introducing it into foreign markets. By the end of the sixties and during the seventies, it had made considerable headway. Today, there are some 90,000 dunams planted yielding about 80,000 tons of fruit per annum.
Exports are estimated at 80% of the annual crop and bring in one hundred million dollars per year.
The avocado harvest begins at the end of September and ends in May. The avocado is rich in unsaturated oil content and is, therefore, easily digestible. It has a higher percentage of protein than many other fruits and is a good source of vitamins. Since the Israeli marketing bodies have succeeded in promoting it on a large scale, the avocado has, because of its nutritional qualities, become a staple commodity in the European food basket.
Lilium Longflorum
Among the many kinds of lilies, the trumpet-like "Lilium Longflorum" is the most prominent. Also called the "Easter Lily", it is often displayed at Easter rites as a symbol of perfection and purity, in many countries.
Because of the great demand for this flower by the markets of the world, the Vulcani Agricultural Research Centre in Rehovot has, over a period of 17 years, developed a number of strains of this flower, which have been awarded prizes at international exhibitions. Those called "Osnat" and "Shovav" are well-known amongst florists all over all over the world and millions of them are exported to many countries.
Here we have a typical case of a successful exercise in co-operation between research, progressive flower growing and efficient marketing.
Irrigation
Israel, situated as it is, in one of the more arid zones of the world, has to practise strict water economy. Because of this, the Ministry of Agriculture, departments of water research and training, in particular, has set quotas for industry and farmers, and encourages them to find the best ways of using the available water. Farmers have to plan the planting of orchards, the sowing of fields and the growing of agricultural products within this framework. The Water department of the Ministry of Agriculture, for its part, prepares plans for the installation of the necessary infrastructure, encourages the use of sophisticated watering devices and makes funds for research and loans available to farmers, for such purposes.
One of the first projects undertaken was the development of more efficient watering methods for crops according to their specific needs.
Industry, too, has been encouraged to find proper ways to save water through technology i.e. by the development of instruments which .make water saving possible.
The first and fore most invention for this purpose was a tap which automatically shut off the flow of water as soon as the programmed quantity had flowed through it. Today, this tap is in use both in Israel and abroad.
The drip method, developed in the sixties and constantly improved upon, has led to a significant saving in water and, consequently, to bigger crops because of the possibility of intensive watering of plants by this method. The watering of orchards is done by sprinklers. Along with improvements in piping, new instruments for the programming and control of quantities of water have been made available. Also in use now, having been pressed for by farmers and agricultural institutes, are American watering devices for field crops, which are constantly being improved upon, locally.