Syngenta, USAID renew global collaboration to improve food security

Date:10-23-2017

• Renewed MOU to develop agriculture in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
• MOU strengthens Research & Development, smallholder farmer capacity, young professionals training and agricultural supply chains.
• MOU to leverage new and existing partnerships and alliances.

Last Friday, Syngenta and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support agriculture and food security activities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This renewed collaboration, which started in 2013, aims to promote food security amongst smallholder farmers by cooperating on improving research and development, technology adoption and farmer know-how to boost farm productivity - whilst also tackling new challenges like the recent invasion of the fall armyworm pest (FAW) in Africa.

A key focus will be to improve the capacity of smallholder farmers to trial, adopt and safely use inputs to boost their yields as well as identifying and equipping young men and women interested in farming as a business. Selected projects will incorporate the use of advanced digital and satellite technology to enhance pest prediction and surveillance, support decision making and improve project evaluation. Programs on environmental sustainability and smallholder capacity training will further underpin Syngenta’s Good Growth Plan.

Erik Fyrwald, Chief Executive Office of Syngenta, said “We place great value on our continued partnership with USAID, which has helped us reach and train more smallholder farmers across the world than we would have been able to achieve alone. USAID’s work in supporting partnerships like this helps deliver real change for farmers in terms of sustainability and profitability.”