By IANS,
Chandigarh : Markfed Punjab signed an agreement with Syngenta a world’s leading agri-business company here Friday.
“This collaboration will facilitate the exchange of technical knowledge, educational camps for Punjab’s farmers for safe use of agro chemicals, availability of better seeds, fertilisers and pesticides,” said G.S. Grewal, managing director, Markfed Punjab.
Grewal said the state government with Syngenta’s help will market agri-products in the state. It would open sales-cum-service centres in Punjab, three of them this year.
The pact was signed in the presence of the state’s Co-operation Minister Kanwaljit Singh.
“India is an agriculture-based economy where 70 percent of the people are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. Despite this, we are facing the maximum challenges in the field of agriculture, so such a collaboration with a global player was our utmost requirement,” the minister told reporters here.
Though Punjab is a major agri-product producer, its overall productivity is declining, the soil has degraded, and crops infected due to excessive or misuse of the pesticides, he said.
“Punjab is an important state for us. We will share the best available technology and knowhow of Syngenta with the state. Our main focus will be educating farmers about the judicious use of chemicals and fertilizers,” John Alkin, global chief operating officer of Syngenta told IANS.
“In 2007, we made sales worth $270 million in India,” Alkin said.