Israeli plans for the development of water resources on a vast scale to transform as much as one-fifth of the Negev into arable land were outlined here in a report submitted for study during the firs United Nations Scientific Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources which will open her August 17.
The report, prepared by S. Irmay of the Haifa Institute of technology, estimates that an intensive effort may be able to recover for agricultural purposes some 600,000 acres of the 3,000,000-acre desert. Pointing out that the Israeli authorities look to the Negev for a solution of the country’s immigrant and agricultural problems, the report declares that by utilizing a sprinkling irrigation system, the Jordan Valley area can increase its goals for land under production from 60,000 to 87,500 acres, thereby supporting 60,000 persons
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