Syngenta Good Growth Plan doubles reach
In 2016, Syngenta projects enhanced biodiversity and soil conservation on a cumulative 9.2 million hectares of land, creating rich, connected wildlife habitats in 34 countries. Together, these soil and biodiversity programs cover an area close to the size of Portugal. A key contribution came from the Soja+Verde project in Brazil, where we are working in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) on the restoration of rainforest in agricultural landscapes.
To assess progress on crop productivity, Syngenta collected data from 3,700 farms in 42 countries. This shows that the productivity and resource efficiency of those Reference farms which use their protocols were nearly 4% higher than the Benchmark farms.
In addition, they reached over 16.5 million smallholders with those participating in Reference Farms benefiting from an 8 percent productivity increase. This demonstrates the potential of technology and agronomic training to not only help small holders to feed themselves and their families but also improve their livelihoods. Syngenta remains confident of achieving their target of reaching 20 million smallholders by 2020.
Over the past year, they have also trained nearly 7 million people in the safe use of our products, bringing the cumulative total to over 17 million farmers since the plan started – 70 percent of which are smallholders in developing countries. And the company continued to expand its Fair Labor Program which now covers all our seeds suppliers in Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Syngenta Chief Executive Officer, Erik Fyrwald, said: “The Good Growth Plan exemplifies the way we do business and, through the data that is now being generated, we are helping farmers to apply best practices and monitor the benefits to the environment and their bottom line. Going forward, we want to evolve the plan further to better understand how farmers can improve the efficiency with which they use water and reduce their carbon emissions. And by continuing to partner with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders in the food value chain, we will be better able to combine the resources and knowledge required to safely feed the world and take care of our planet”.
For more information:
www.goodgrowthplan.com
www.data.syngenta.com
www.ar2016.syngenta.com