Bayer- Monsanto to expand links in Asia, Africa

The world’s largest seed company Monsanto which merged into global healthcare and crop protection major Bayer, is planning to take its mobile- enabled digital farming platform for farmers in India. This will hopefully be done after the merger in 2019. Its platform known as 'FarmRise' will work towards an expanded roll out in Africa, Asia and South America by 'The Climate Corporation' (Bayer’s subsidiary).

Bayer had organized a meeting in Germany to plan its vision for the future of agriculture. The meeting aimed to bring together its farming stakeholders, industry majors, academia, NGOs and some top media publications.

The company says, in India around 85% of farms are less than 2 hectares. And as the farmers here possess small farms and get few opportunities to obtain agronomic training or access credit, they very much struggle to achieve good production and increased incomes. Private sector partnerships are helping the farmers in getting access to agronomic advice and market data so they get the best price for their products.

It is important to mention that Monsanto since 2010 is working to develop the agronomic skills of small-scale Indian farmers and keep them updated on weather and market prices. FarmRise's "mobile farm care program" is a mobile digital platform used by farmers who grow cotton, and vegetable seeds. At present more than 4 million farmers are enrolled in this service in India.