A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Bayer, a multinational company with key expertise in the life sciences of agriculture and healthcare, and Superplum, an agri-tech start-up to develop a digitized farm-to-customer traceable supply chain. This partnership's goal is to create and put in place a sustainable crop protection plan for fruit growers in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, with an intended expansion to other areas. The model seeks to provide defined economic advantages to all stakeholders over three years to benefit 15,000 smallholder farmers in India.
Bayer will support domestic and export compliance, the adoption of a production schedule to ensure an improvement in the quality and productivity of the produce, and assistance in achieving incremental growth in the farmer's revenue as part of the collaboration. Additionally, Bayer will concentrate on creating fruit crop protection packages and educating farmers on how to use them.
"Nutritional security along with food security is a critical national and global imperative for the growing population. To this effect, Bayer has launched a global 'Nutrient Gap Initiative' that aims to expand access to essential nutrients to 50 million people in underserved communities by 2030. However, we do recognize that to achieve this at scale a collaborative ecosystem is required and to further this critical agenda we are happy to partner with Superplum to create a holistic ecosystem that will help improve fruit growers' incomes by sustainably enhancing market linkages and ensuring healthy produce for the end consumers,” said D Narain, President, South Asia, and Global Head of Smallholder Farming for Bayer speaking on the partnership.
Through a unique multi-faceted strategy, Superplum uses science and technology to extend the shelf life of a variety of fruits. The partnership will focus on working towards superior fruit quality as well as providing advice to partner farmers on accelerating productivity.
