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Improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers
Technology Donation
Access to effective technology, combined with micro-finance and market creation possibilities, are pre-requisites for creating sustainable solutions for farmers to increase their food production and make a profit. Technology is particularly important to combat pests and diseases, and produce adequate yields in drought prone areas. But often farmers do not have the opportunity to use the most modern innovative technology-based solutions. Clearly, lack of finances is prohibitive but also from the private sectors point of view there can be a range of different reasons why technology is not made available such as: lack of return on investment, higher business priorities, lack of operational intellectual properties and data protection laws to constrain piracy, and concerns about product stewardship, liability and safe use.
Access to effective technology, combined with micro-finance and market creation possibilities, are pre-requisites for creating sustainable solutions for farmers to increase their food production and make a profit. Technology is particularly important to combat pests and diseases, and produce adequate yields in drought prone areas. But often farmers do not have the opportunity to use the most modern innovative technology-based solutions. Clearly, lack of finances is prohibitive but also from the private sectors point of view there can be a range of different reasons why technology is not made available such as: lack of return on investment, higher business priorities, lack of operational intellectual properties and data protection laws to constrain piracy, and concerns about product stewardship, liability and safe use.
Technology donation is a humanitarian approach that the private sector and research and development organisations can use to contribute science and know-how to assist subsistence farmers with their food production challenges. This can be done as true humanitarian gestures and as an alternative to money donation or to try to stimulate new commercial market opportunities for the longer term. There are different types of technology donations and these can include:
- Providing public sector research and development organisations with plant or chemical based technology, such as plant germplasm with novel genetics, molecular markers for breeding, or agrochemicals that need local development for specific uses
- Provision of research data, information and knowledge
- Capacity development such as provision of research techniques, methods and tools and know-how
In most cases, the best and most innovative technology donations require the private sector party to offer not just technology materials and information, but waivers for intellectual property rights or give royalty-free licenses to enable the public sector freedom to operate, e.g. when Syngenta donated golden rice technology to the Golden Rice Humanitarian Board in 2005.
The Syngenta Foundation seeks to understand the needs of resource poor smallholder farmers and match their needs with those where technology and science-based solutions are the best drivers to improve agricultural productivity and profit for farmers. The Foundation provides a portal for contact with Syngenta to explore ideas requiring technology donation that can lead to mutual benefit, and facilitates initiatives to create and strengthen public-private partnerships.
