Syngenta signs MoU to be strategic partner in India’s first open-data agricultural ecosystem Annam.AI

Nice, Switzerland / New Delhi – India’s agriculture sector is a global powerhouse, uniquely characterized by its massive scale, vast arable land, diverse agro-climatic zones and rich biodiversity. These strengths have propelled the country to become one of the world’s leading producers of crops such as rice and wheat. However, farmers in the country face significant challenges – from erratic monsoons, severe droughts and unseasonal rains compounded by El Nino, to pests and diseases that destroy an estimated 30 percent of crops annually. More than 80 percent of India’s estimated 150 million farming households are composed of smallholder farmers who operate on less than two hectares of land. This limits economies of scale, sets obstacles to the wider adoption of advanced technologies and could widen a systemic gap between large commercial agricultural operations and the bulk of its farming population. Providing India’s farmers with free, real-time and personalized agricultural intelligence – at scale – could transform the country’s agriculture. This vision is at the heart of an ambitious program called Annam.AI, which aims to build a nationwide agricultural intelligence backbone based on open data, that enables precision agriculture and fosters climate resilience. This would provide India’s farmers hyperlocal, AI-powered advisories that...