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Syngenta, the world’s largest agricultural chemical company by sales, has drawn a growth plan for next six years with a commitment to ensure sustainable farming.
With shrinking agriculture land and two lakh more mouths to feed every day by 2020, the company has committed to improving the average yield of major crops by 20 per cent without using more land, water or inputs.
Rescuing farmland
It intends to rescue 10 million hectares of farmland from the brink of degradation by improving the fertility and enhancing biodiversity on five million hectares of farm land. Akshaya M. Kamath, Managing Director, Syngenta India, said the company would handhold about 20 million small farmers, especially in Asia-Pacific region including India and China to increase productivity by 50 per cent using the latest farming techniques.
Besides, he said, 20 million farm workers would be trained globally on safety and ensure fair working condition throughout the entire supply chain.
The company in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute has a new technology PaniPipe which ensures diligent use of water in paddy fields.
The Panipipe, inserted into the ground vertically, allows farmers to monitor water level below the ground, lowering the need to flood paddy field. This has led to 30 per cent saving in water from nearly 5,000 litres used traditionally to produce one kg of rough rice, said Kamath in an interaction.
The savings in water combined with higher yield help farmers increase their returns by more than 30 per cent, he said pointing to proven technology in Punjab.
crop protection
The Pune-headquartered company is creating integrated offers across eight crops, including vegetables, paddy, cereals, sunflower and specialty crops such as grapes, potato, cotton, pulses, soybean, sugar cane and corn.
Assuring quality, Kamath said for every crop protection product that reaches the farmers’ field, almost 1,00,000 are tested but discarded because they do not meet efficacy or safety standards.
“We have invested significantly to develop water-efficient technologies, drought-tolerant seeds, and crop protection products and optimised irrigation systems. We have also introduced herbicides that reduce the need for ploughing and improve soil’s ability to absorb water,” he said.
The unlisted company in India registered 48 per cent increase in profit at Rs 247 crore while revenue grew 16 per cent to Rs 2,616 crore.
(The author was in Jakarta at the invitation of Syngenta)
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