Israel to introduce agro & water technologies and culture in Hanoi

The vertical rice field set up at the event. Photo: Embassy of Israel

Advanced technologies in agriculture will be showcased in center of capital this weekend.

The “Exposition of Futuristic Israeli Agro & Water Technologies and Cultural Performance” event will take place at Ly Thai To Square in Hanoi’s central Hoan Kiem district on the evening of October 27, featuring advanced Israeli technology in the field of agriculture and water and introductions to Israeli and Vietnamese culture.

The event is a main activity within a series of events to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam - Israel diplomatic relations (1993-2018), held by the Embassy of Israel in Vietnam in cooperation with the Hanoi People’s Committee to reflect, strengthen and promote the friendship and partnership between the two countries in general and between Hanoi and Israel in particular.

The “Vertical Rice Field” is one of the highlights of the exposition. Measuring approximately 100 sq m, it combines the deployment of soil-based technology for water conservation and plant nutrition that may change the face of city landscaping forever and would boost crop growing capabilities in cities all over the world. The system enables the growing of almost any plant or crop and enables readily-harvested fresh produce at your fingertips.

There will also an exposition of Watergen, a cutting-edge Israeli technology providing a low-cost, abundant, and renewable source of fresh and clean drinking water by extracting it directly from the atmosphere. For the first time, making water from air is a true economic reality, generated 24/7 and commercially available for everyone.

Israeli artists will also perform Israeli music and folk dance. While in other countries folk dance is fostered to preserve old rural traditions, in Israel it is a constantly developing art form that has evolved since the 1940s, based on historic and modern sources as well as on biblical associations and contemporary dance styles. The people of Hanoi are welcome to join the show and the dancing as music and dance brings people even closer together.

“We celebrate our great friendship with the Vietnamese people by displaying unique and cutting-edge technologies in the center of Hanoi, as they represent the ties between our two nations most of all,” said Ambassador of Israel to Vietnam, H.E. Nadav Eshcar. “It is all about innovation, creativity and vision and cooperation in education, advanced technology, agriculture, and science. I strongly believe that there is enormous potential in our relations with Vietnam. Together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.”

Israel, a country of some 21,000 sq km and with a population of 8.7 million, is famous for turning the desert green with agricultural innovation; something where it leads the world. The Negev Desert, which covers over 60 per cent of the country, has actually shrunk in size over the past century as agricultural activity has turned sand into green fields, the opposite to the desertification trend that much of the rest of the world is battling.

Israeli company Netafim invented modern drip irrigation technology in the 1960s. This allowed the precious and scarce water resources of the desert to be used at extreme limits to grow crops. It treats 80 per cent of its domestic wastewater, which is recycled for agricultural use and constitutes nearly 50 per cent of the total water used for agriculture. Drip irrigation is one of the most effective forms used by farmers in many developed countries to reduce water wastage.