Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, has officially launched yesterday as a new agriculture brand to public and private sector representatives, growers, customers and partners in Ethiopia to bring a solutions for increasing agricultural productivity.
The heritage companies of Corteva Agriscience – DuPont Crop Protection, Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer – have been working for more than 25 years in Ethiopia offering Pioneer brand seed and crop protection solutions to more than one million maize, wheat, teff, fruit and vegetables farmers in the market.
Corteva Agriscience, through its collaboration with government and USAID implemented the Advanced Maize Seed Adoption Program (AMSAP), which resulted in 250,000 smallholder farmers increasing their productivity from 2.2 metric tons per hectare to 7 metric tons per hectare and their incomes by $1,500 USD annually. The program aims to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers by giving them new, high-quality options for maize seeds as well as improving seed distribution and post-harvest storage. Close to 10,000 smallholder maize farmers have benefited from agronomic education and training. Forty thousand farmers have improved access to agricultural inputs such as hybrid seed varieties. These farmers have also increased their yields and increased incomes by an average of 20 percent. More than 30 agronomists are engaged in delivering training to farmers and 80 local retailers have been fully enabled to distribute seed to farmers.
The Corteva Agriscience brand launch event, attended by sector representatives and ambassadors from key countries in East and Central Africa, also focused on strategies to scale up current collaborations to accelerate agricultural development as an engine of broad-based economic growth in the region.
Speaking at the launch, the United States ambassador to Ethiopia, Ambassador Raynor said, “The U.S. private sector, including companies like Corteva Agriscience, plays an impactful role in Ethiopia’s broader society as well, by encouraging sustainability and corporate social responsibility. By this, I mean the kinds of win-win commercial activity that benefit both our countries by bringing meaningful job creation; respectful and responsible labor practices; strong training and skills-development programs; technology transfer; and sound environmental practices to bear. Global companies like Corteva understand that they only succeed when their host communities succeed as well.”
At the official brand launch ceremony in Ethiopia, Corteva Agriscience signed a collaborative agreement with the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to improve the productivity, livelihoods, food security, income security and well-being of smallholder farmers across Africa, including in Ethiopia.
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