Syngenta to invest over $500m, build $1b business in Africa in ten years

Syngenta, a Swiss-based chemical seeds and pesticides marketer, says it will make cumulative investments of over $500 million to help transform agriculture in Africa.

This, according to the company, is to addresses the issue of food security and poverty as well as making the continent a major world food exporter.

The company also intends to expand its presence in Africa by building a $1 billion business targeted at sales in the next ten years through investments.

“Syngenta will make cumulative investments of over $500 million in support of this undertaking.  These include the recruitment and training of over 700 new employees with a high level of agronomic specialization,” the company said in a statement as a commitment to the New Alliance for Africa launched by US President Barack Obama at the 2012 G8 Summit.

According to Syngenta, the development of distribution channel networks, logistics and local production facilities, in collaboration with local partners, will increase access to technology for both smallholders and large scale farms.

The target over the 10 year period is to reach over five million farmers and to enable productivity gains of 50% or more, while preserving the long term potential of the land, it said.

Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mike Mack said, “Africa has become one of “our strategic growth regions and our aspiration is to contribute to the transformation of African agriculture”.

We will deploy our leading portfolio as part of a system-wide approach linking people, land and technology, with the aim of increasing productivity sustainably and thereby reducing poverty, Mack added.

By Ekow Quandzie