Syngenta India & AIC join hands to support Guntur’s chilli farmers
Guntur, June 20, 2022: This is a sweet truth on chilli farmers are savoring. In a bold and unique move to empower smallholders, and save them from vagaries of price fluctuations due to unpredictable market conditions, Syngenta India has entered into an exclusive agreement with Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC) to provide minimum support price guarantee to chili growers of Guntur.
“AIC is providing a unique opportunity to smallholder farmers who are growing Syngenta Hot Pepper Hybrid HPH 5531. Fasal Bhavantar Kawach, an insurance product by AIC, is a minimum price guarantee support. The product protects policyholders against unexpected fall in market prices. If the market prices fall for the insured crop to a level below the indemnified support price, resulting in a loss, AIC will compensate the policyholder by providing the difference between this Indemnified support price and the market modal price,” said MK Poddar, CMD, AIC.
Due to unpredictable fluctuations in market prices of produce, farmers are prone to switching between crops, and at times can make wrong decision leading to a low return on investment.
“We understand the pain points of the farmers. This initiative is designed to provide the requisite shields to them to ensure they focus on their crops. Helping smallholder farmers face market price fluctuation, securing their income, and supporting them to keep cultivating the preferred crop through this scheme is a game-changing move that Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has taken,” said KC Ravi, Chief Sustainability Officers, Syngenta India.
Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has been working with the right partners to create a sustainable path toward smallholder farmers' growth. “We pride ourselves on working with a wide range of stakeholders, transferring knowledge to achieve results on the ground, and extending financial support to farmers,” Ravi added.
Farmers opting for the support to price protect their harvest will not get affected by the unexpected fall in prices as they will be able to prevent the loss of their invested capital.
“The risks associated with demand-supply variation in the market that affects the commodity price will be minimized for the farmers, they will be tension-free by securing the money invested in growing the crop. Farmers will not have to hold their produce for long and they will be able to get their working capital early and settle their expenses incurred for the crop production. By securing a fixed market price, farmers will take better decisions in the crop choice,” informed Poddar.
Syngenta Vegetable Seeds has been working towards providing growers with highest quality seeds and bringing product innovation to create value at every step of the chain to create sustainability.
Syngenta Foundation India (SFI) is also a partner in this initiative and is helping in identifying the right support partner to extend insurance to farmers.
In a small village of Achampet Mandal in Guntur, Telangana, over 2,000 farmers have been growing Syngenta’s Hot Pepper Hybrid HPH 5531. Hot pepper farmers have an average land holding of 2 acres and invest Rs 1.5L per acre to get 15 to 20 quintals of produce. Preventing their loss when the market price of the commodity is not in their favor at the time of harvest will come as a relief to farmers as they can safeguard their investment, and in turn, reinvest that into their operation and next season’s crop. In the Guntur APMC, around 80% of the red dry auction happens and so it was the right place to launch the pilot, added Ravi. HPH 5531 hybrid by Syngenta is popular among farmers as it is the first choice for red dry produce by the processors. The farmers go to Guntur APMC to sell the red dry produce from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
About Syngenta
Syngenta is one of the world’s leading agriculture companies, helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Our ambition is to help safely feed the world while taking care of the planet. We aim to improve the sustainability, quality and safety of agriculture with world class science and innovative crop solutions. In more than 100 countries we are working to transform how crops are grown. Through partnerships, collaboration and The Good Growth Plan we are committed to accelerating innovation for farmers and nature, striving for regenerative agriculture, helping people stay safe and healthy and partnering for impact.
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Tehseen Zaidi
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Tehseen.Zaidi@syngenta.com