(Photo Credit:Ms Lystra Antoine-Photo credit: article.wn.com)
By Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Director of Agriculture for Dupont Pioneer, Ms Lystra Antoine has explained the role that the seed company as a private sector is playing, is boosting the resilience of smallholder farmers, especially in the developing world.
She said that the ways in which the company was contributing to the food and nutrition security of smallholders is by disseminating the company’s science-based technologies, such as hybrid seed.
In a meeting with Farming First (a global coalition of organizations that works to articulate, promote a broad-based knowledge-centered approach to agriculture), Ms. Antoine pointed to the difference that an improved seed could make “to a female farmer, whose increased income could help her diversify her diet, save money for the future and send her girls to school.
“That’s value that doesn’t get captured by us saying we sold a seed, but that’s what happens on the ground,” Antoine emphasized.
She highlighted the new Evergreen Partnership that Dupont has created together with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) that would educate farmers on the benefits of inter-cropping – planting maize among nitrogen fixing trees that can rejuvenate soils and help combat climate change.
