Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz (right) and Vice President for Global Engagement Prof. Limor Aharonson-Daniel (left) sign the agreement, during a virtual ceremony on the Marcus Family Campus, in Beersheba, Israel, Nov. 9, 2020. Photo: Dani Machlis / BGU.

In a virtual ceremony held on Monday, Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and India’s offshore drilling company ABAN launched a project to establish an agricultural research institute in Chennai.

BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz stated, “As part of the international research community, it is our obligation to share our scientific knowledge for the benefit of all of the world’s citizens. We have been deepening our knowledge and researching myriad aspects of desert agriculture up close for more than 50 years. We are proud to be leading global research in these fields and therefore it is natural for Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to direct the academic establishment of an agriculture institute in India.”

“The institute will assist in developing appropriate solutions to the agriculture of India,” he went on to say. “In addition, the students will benefit from studies at BGU at our Sde Boker Campus, and then carry out relevant research in the new Institute under the mentorship of BGU scientists.”

Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) Director Prof. Noam Weisbrod, noted, “Through this partnership with ABAN, we are looking forward to being able to offer the vast knowledge and experience we develop here at the BIDR to students in India in general and Tamil Nadu (the province where Chennai is located) in particular, so that they will be able to have an impact in their home country. This new generation of local scholars will receive the tools to tackle some of the most pressing concerns of the modern world: the need for an efficient and modern agriculture to optimize and improve food production, and the methods and technologies to increase and improve water availability and quality, all while keeping in mind the environmental concerns.”

BGU’s Vice President for Global Engagement Prof. Limor Aharonson-Daniel commented, “I am delighted that despite the challenges set by Covid-19 we were able to move forward with this important project, reinforcing BGU’s mission of combating desertification and exploring global challenges by bringing together water, food, energy and environmental research.”