In the video: damages of millions and unharvested crops: the crisis of the farmers in the Gaza Envelope / Yanir Yagana
The state budget that is expected to be passed in the coming weeks is a bad budget.
Bad for the citizens, bad for the economy and bad for the future of the State of Israel, but it turns out that among all the budget items there is serious damage to Israeli research and development.
Hidden within the budget submitted by the government to the Knesset is a 21% cut from the budget of the Vulcani Institute, the agricultural research institute that, in an international comparison of the index of scientific excellence of agricultural research institutes, is ranked third in the world.
The Volcanic Institute, which employs hundreds of researchers and scientists, and contributes greatly to the creation of jobs and the development of new knowledge, is responsible for the development of groundbreaking agricultural technologies, which contribute greatly to the success of Israeli agriculture.
Among other things, the institute developed new varieties of crops resistant to harsh climatic conditions, innovative cultivation methods and water conservation technologies.
These developments have a huge contribution to improving the quality and quantity of agricultural produce and to preserving the environment.
.
This cut is the essence of the government's failure to set a policy that is the opposite of what is needed for the economy.
This is a complementary move to stopping the reform to open the fruit and vegetable market to competition, which will lead to a sharp increase in the price of fruits and vegetables.
Thus, instead of Israel becoming an international research and development center in the field of food, instead of competition developing in the field and the price for the consumer being reduced, the current government leads a policy of closing the market and blocking it, with more government involvement and less investment in research and development.
This cut is added to the 50% cut in the ministry's chief scientist's budget from the 2023 budget, intended for investment in agricultural innovation, and if that is not severe enough, another 50% cut is planned in the 2025 budget
. With this, the government completes the cancellation of the agricultural reform and returns Israeli agriculture to stagnation and decline.
Cherry tomatoes.
Instead of Israel becoming an international research and development center, the government leads a policy of closing and blocking the market/Ziv Reinstein, Ziv Reinstein
Israel's relative advantage is not in mass production capacity, but rather in innovation, research, development and technology that is so much needed in view of the climate changes that are plaguing the world.
The Israeli market must be opened to imports along with investments in research and development and renewal of farms and making them suitable for climate changes and environmental requirements.
This is how agriculture in Israel would return to the forefront of international technology and focus on its strengths.
Unfortunately, due to political pressures, this government cuts innovation, research and development and serves the interests of the high-cost knights in that instead of directly supporting Israeli agriculture, it closes the market and harms the citizens of Israel for whom fruits and vegetables become a luxury.
This cut is one of a series of cuts made by the government specifically in the generators of growth.
In the days when Israeli high-tech is in crisis due to the difficulties of recruitment, the government is obliged to step into the shoes of the investors and create support mechanisms to compensate for this, in order not to damage this engine of growth.
At the same time, the government encourages large populations not to go to work through allowances and supports and thus completes the moves leading to the decline of the Israeli economy - lowering the credit rating, abandoning brains and talents and making the Israeli economy closed and weak.
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These days we must adopt the opposite policy - more investments in R&D, more direct support and providing incentives for capital investments and the use of technology and fewer taxes and duties that make life more expensive for the citizens of Israel here, and leave inefficient industries on artificial respiration.
There is still time until the budget is passed and before the cuts that will lead to the elimination of research And the agricultural development in Israel will be lamented for generations, the government must withdraw from the harsh cut and beyond the cancellation of the cut, it must increase investments in R&D, open the market to competition and promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
The Israeli public will be the one to pay dearly for the closing of the market and the elimination of R&D and innovation in Israeli agriculture. This is a policy that is slowly cutting the flesh of the Israeli economy and instead of taking the citizens of Israel out of the hole, it only deepens it and brings us down deeper. And all we have to do is call on the government ministers to The Immortal Law - Reverse Gota, Reverse!
The writer is a MK from the Israel Beitenu party, the chairman of the Aliya, Absorption and Diaspora Committee, in the past he served as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee.
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