Soil institute inks MoU with Syngenta company to improve crop productivity

With an aim to enhance crop productivity, ICAR-Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Syngenta India, an agriculture research company, to focus on promoting sustainable agricultural practices and improving soil health and resilience in salt-affected areas.

By combining the CSSRI's research expertise in soil management with Syngenta's innovative agri-solutions, the collaboration aims at supporting farmers in adopting practices that boost productivity while ensuring long-term environmental sustainability.

Dr RK Yadav, Director, ICAR-CSSRI, and Susheel Kumar, country head and MD Syngenta India, signed the MoU and discussed the future planning.

“We will conduct joint research and development projects on soil salinity management and improving crop productivity, through sustainable agricultural practices,” said Yadav.

“There will also be exchange of scientific and technical information, including research findings, soil salinity data and methodologies between the two partners,” added Yadav, who expressed hope that this initiative would contribute to more efficient farming methods and help secure food security in the face of growing environmental challenges.

Susheel Kumar, country head and MD, Syngenta India, said, “Innovations are at the core of our functioning to effectively meet the challenges of a changing world, from climate change, soil erosion and biodiversity loss to the demands of the farmers and the wider society. Since our contribution is a combined effort, we believe in taking all stakeholders along to make agriculture in India a model of sustainability and prosperity for the farmers.”

“We Syngenta will provide technical expertise, financial support and proprietary technologies as agreed upon in specific projects” while CSSRI will provide research facilities, scientific expertise and support for conducting trials and experiments.” said Vinod Shivrain, head, crop protection development, Syngenta India.