Bayer CropScience co-sponsors ASEAN Rice Forum in Vietnam

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Rice Forum, organized by Bayer CropScience in partnership with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), was held in Ho Chi Minh City last week to discuss increasing rice productivity sustainability through public-private partnerships and encouraging more knowledge of current farming technologies.

“Agriculture is exposed to a plentitude of challenges such as limited arable land and natural resources, a shortage or rising cost of labor, increased market volatility, limits to credit availability for smallholder farmers, resistance issues and an ongoing quest for sustainability – to name only a few,” Sascha Israel, Bayer CropScience's region head for Asia Pacific, said.

Israel addressed what solutions are available to the rice industry.

“This means we need to learn to farm even better and harvest more from the land that we have available," he said. "At Bayer CropScience, we are committed to supporting growers in their daily operations with innovative products and on-farm advice to tackle these challenges and support a sustainable intensification of rice farming,.

"We collaborate along the entire value chain to achieve even better results. We have made some headway in the area of public-private and value chain partnerships in rice and have started seeing positive results from the projects that we are undertaking. Going forward, we believe we can continue to contribute to the development of rice farming in ASEAN through continuing and strengthening these partnerships, with a focus on enhancing the adoption of technologies by smallholder farmers."