Mon, 01 May 2017 12:26:27 +0000 By BUUMBA CHIMBULU A PARTNERSHIP worth US$1.8 million to support over 10, 000 smallholder farmers in Zambia has been signed between Syngenta and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The programme will be implemented by MRI Seed, a subsidiary of Syngenta and the Feed the Future Partners for Innovation, a USAID programme applied by Fintrac Inc. The programme aims to build a sustainable seedling distribution model for hybrid vegetables, provide access to market information and linkages. Other objectives include training farmers on good agricultural practices and business management, as well as introducing new technologies to help smallholder farmers dramatically improve their yields. It will be implemented in 20 districts across Zambia where Syngenta will establish 20 seedling production sites, each owned and operated by an Entrepreneurial Young Plant Raiser (YPR). Syngenta Zambia head of customer marketing, Mark Stokes, explained that the partnership focused on testing the commercial […]
