Bayer, a chemical and pharmaceutical, firm has showcased 14 hybrids in maize and about 119 hybrids in vegetables, including tomatoes, hot pepper, sweet pepper, pole beans, cucumber, cabbage, cauliflower, ridge gourd, cucumber, okra and watermelon at “Pragati Divas 2020”, a farmers’ event organised at the company’s breeding station in Gowribidanur, on the outskirts of the city.
Pragati Divas has also featured talks and workshops on vegetable cultivation, under a protected environment and the best suited hybrids and appropriate crop management practices to minimise the impact of diseases and other stress conditions. It also featured live demonstrations of drones, vegetable quality detection tools, digital farming and tailored solutions used in farming.
Prashant Hegde, Asia Pacific Vegetable Seeds Commercial Head, Bayer said, “With growing population, increasing incomes and varied nutrition requirements, the demand for a wider variety of high-quality vegetables continue to increase. This results in an immediate need to harvest better quality nutritious food from each unit of land, water and energy. At Bayer, our attempt is to help smallholder farmers counter challenges in their fields by providing them with a wide variety of hybrid seeds that suit varied agronomic conditions and advanced growing techniques so that they can produce quality vegetables and get better returns on their investments.”
Over 250 farmers and customers and distributors of Bayer products from several villages across the country have participated in the event.
