CBI member and German life sciences giant, Bayer has announced that it has partnered with China’s Ministry of Agriculture to launch China’s Enhancing Green Development Capability Plan.
Bayer’s agricultural division, Bayer Crop Science in China, will work with China’s National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Centre (NATESC) to operate a large-scale training programme across all of China to respond to the needs of green and quality development in Chinese agriculture. The project will officially get underway later this year, and will run for an initial five years.
Through sponsoring and co-launching the programme, Bayer hopes that China will be able to begin building its ‘green development capacity’, by developing the understanding of key players such as local officials, agricultural technicians, and executives in the ever-increasing number of Chinese agri-businesses.
Jesus Madrazo, Bayer head of Agricultural Affairs & Sustainability - crop science division, said, “There is broad recognition that China has made tremendous progress in not only advancing food security, but also the quality of what is grown, [so that] it is better for consumers and better for the environment. […] Bayer will remain committed to bringing innovative products and optimised integrated solutions for crops [to China], and provide training to farmers to help them master the most suitable methods and get better returns.”
Bayer believes that by increasing the prevalence of technology in agriculture and improving farmer’s access to data, levels of sustainability within Chinese agriculture will increase. As a result, the new Green Development Capability Plan places a heavy emphasis on helping growers to better understand the data from their own fields and to be able to use these insights to improve their farm management skills.
Speaking at the launch, Madrazo said, “Farmers today are more aware that they need to incorporate agronomic practises that are more precise, conserve natural resources, and produce more food from the same finite piece of land … over the next 20 years, there will be more innovative technologies to support farmers to practise sustainable agricultural production. […] combining advanced [seed] breeding technologies that makes seeds smarter and more productive, together with modern crop protection products that are friendlier to the environment, coupled with biological technologies that really help explore the power of microorganisms in the soil, will shape sustainability for the benefit of farmers, consumers and our planet.”
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