“Partnerships are the key to the success of the global vegetable food value chain,” top officials of Bayer CropScience, one of the three subgroups of German conglomerate Bayer AG, with annual sales of close to €7.3 billion, told a gathering of about 200 industry experts and international vegetable food chain representatives.

The occasion was the inaugural of the Vegetable Future Forum here.

Horticulture crops fruits and vegetables account for the largest share of the company’s crop portfolio and the company is a global leader in fruits and vegetables crop protection.

India is the world’s second largest producer of fruits and vegetables. Yield, quality and chemical residue are among the issues these crops face.

Asserting that ‘biologics’ was the way forward to address these issues, company officials explained that a combination of modern chemistry or chemical solutions and ‘innovative biological pest management solutions based on natural microorganisms or microbial extracts’ will help improve vegetable production, yield and quality.

Importantly, use of biologics will result in a reduction in pesticide residue on crops.

For Bayer CropScience, offering biologics as a strategic addition to its product portfolio became possible with the acquisition of AgraQuest in the third quarter of this year for $425 million.

AgraQuest is a leading company with strong technology platform and promising pipeline of products for the market. The company owns reputed brands such as Serenade, Sonata and Rhapsody.

“Molecular biology, small molecules and biologics can be efficient solution providers for unmet customer needs”, company officials said adding the grower benefits from higher yield and improved quality.

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