To meet the challenge of increasing farm productivity, innovation needs to extend cross the entire agricultural and food value chain. Syngenta does not have all the answers. Our ability to identify adjacencies and engage strategic partners is crucial in enabling us to broaden the solutions we offer to growers worldwide. We believe in a partnership approach and we have been collaborating proactively with public institutions, growers as well as nongovernment organizations in India.
Syngenta has a MoU with Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and has conducted joint projects aimed at enhancing productivity and quality of farm produce by adopting latest technology in key crops like Rice, Wheat and Potato. The Autumn Corn Project to support crop diversification in Punjab led to a yield increase of more than 28% and optimized demand for irrigation and other inputs. The potato productivity project led to a yield growth of 25%. The wheat Integrated trials in two key wheat districts of Punjab enhanced output by more than 20%.
Chaudhry Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University (HAU) and Syngenta India are collaborating to help farmers enhance yields of paddy and wheat. While food production has grown six-fold in last five decades in Haryana, for over a decade now paddy-wheat crop rotation has either seen a decline or has stagnated, and the partnership has been designed to focus on this issue. A complete package of practices of CCS HAU and improved technologies developed by Syngenta will be followed at the farmers’ field for breaking this barrier of yield stagnation. The project will be carried out in seven districts Hisar, Kaithal, Karnal, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Ambala, Kurukshetra. Five villages and two farmers per village will be selected for this, taking the total number of villages to 35 and farmers to 70. This joint venture aims to support projects on the education of farmers and evolving crop solutions for productivity enhancement.
Syngenta's Food Security Agenda focuses on developing sustainable business models that address the needs of smallholder farmers. Through one of its initiatives in Madhya Pradesh the company collaborates with farmers, government and the civil society to implement viable solutions for small holders through farmer producers companies. Syngenta has undertaken pilot projects with three farmer producer companies in Narsinghpur, Guna and Dindori and is working on infusing technology and professionalism into their operations.
GRES: Syngenta also participated in the West Bengal government’s initiative to bring a second green revolution to eastern India.
Syngenta joined hands with Markfed, one of the biggest cooperatives in Asia, to reach out to smallholder farmers and offer its solutions and services from more than 3,000 cooperative societies catered by Markfed.
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in India (CIMMYT) and Syngenta work together to develop multiple projects focused on wheat research activities. These are aimed at increasing cereal productivity by accelerating adoption of new genotypes, improved seed systems and improved crop management technologies including conservation agriculture.