Mahindra Agri Partners with KeyGene to Drive Innovation and Yield Enhancement in Key Crops

KeyGene, the crop innovation company based in Netherlands, the US and India and Mahindra Agri Solutions Ltd. (MASL), a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd announced a multi-year strategic research collaboration for key field crops. 

KeyGene’s crop innovation platforms will be used for the development of economically important and market relevant traits. This technology collaboration will yield highly productive and more resilient varieties of crops helping to deliver on Mahindra’s FarmTech Prosperity brand promise.  Most significantly, the collaboration will ensure crop resistance to abiotic stresses such as drought & heat, and biotic stresses like pests and diseases, in MASL’s proprietary germplasm.

Commenting on this new partnership, Ashok Sharma, Managing Director and CEO, Mahindra Agri Solutions Limited, said “At MASL, we are committed to Farming 3.0, the new age of farming that encompasses a range of advanced techniques to elevate the entire agri-ecosystem, through the provision of customized products and solutions using sustainable global technologies. KeyGene is a global leader in crop innovation and we are excited to leverage their expertise, next generation technologies and trait platforms to develop highly productive and more resilient crops for both the Indian market and new geographies. I am confident that this strategic global collaboration will be a win-win for both the companies.”

Arjen van Tunen, CEO of KeyGene said,  “We recognize MASL’s commitment to farmers and regard it as a leader in the arena of bringing innovative solutions to the market, based on state-of-the art breeding technology and a strong germplasm base. We are excited to embark on this journey with MASL and support them in accelerating their breeding programs using our proprietary technologies and know-how. This will result in improved non-GM crop varieties and increased MASL business in India and Asia”.

This association will enable MASL’s growth in existing key markets as well as new markets and deliver superior hybrids in focus crops, helping drive the company’s seeds business into the next orbit of growth. It will further result in delivering FarmTech Prosperity and increase farmers’ income.