Bayer CropScience CEO says famers need more industry support

The private sector is ready to be a partner and driver of
solutions for sustainable agriculture, said Bayer CropScience CEO Sandra Peterson at the World Agricultural Forum in Brussels recently.

The industry must continue to commit to innovation to safeguard food security, she noted, and will need to operate in a regulatory
and political environment that facilitates trade flows and the transfer of technology and know-how.

Peterson told delegates that partnership and collaboration
were integral to address global challenges, such as food security for all.

She said innovation has a key role to play in addressing the
challenge of world food security and poverty reduction.

Citing wheat as an example, she noted Bayer CropScience is
already actively investing in research to strengthen the crop’s tolerance to drought and disease, and to improve its nutrient uptake as well as yield enhancement.

The company is already cooperating with the world’s premier
wheat research institutes globally to build up a leading platform for research into wheat.

However, she noted that such innovation can make a substantial contribution to addressing global challenges to food security only
with the appropriate regulatory and political frameworks in place.

"Our industry is not concerned that we might run out of
innovative ideas to safeguard crops, but we are concerned about the regulatory and political obstacles on the last mile to the market," she said.

“Fostering a regulatory climate that facilitates trade flows, as well as the transfer of technology and know-how, is of the essence.
We must base our decisions on science and keep in mind the requirements of the growers who need new tools to raise agricultural output."

She added that more support for smallholder farming is key
to any long-term effort to ensure food security worldwide.

Such support could be tailored to meet the specific needs of
the farmer and his environment, and could range from training in good agricultural practices, access to modern agricultural input technologies, financing schemes, to improvements in water management, power supply, and post-harvest storage, she explained.