"A unique multi-stakeholder platform that advances the technology, skills, and knowledge fundamental to improving smallholder productivity & profitability."

There are approximately 500 million smallholder farmers working on farms often less than 2 hectares in size around the world. And many more depend on smallholders who play an increasing role in supplying and feeding a growing population while being at high risk of poverty and malnutrition. These farmers (often women) are constrained by multiple challenges with access to markets, limited access to supporting infrastructure, access to capital, insurance, and other risk-reducing tools. There is also a deficit in farm management knowledge. These smallholder farmers have the potential to be the driving force behind rural development, which is equitable, sustainable, and productive.

To this end, Bayer, and its partners in Singapore, seek to drive an initiative that will see the establishment of a Centre Excellence (CoE) for the Smallholder Farming community of Asian countries with a vision to strengthen food system resilience and improve smallholder livelihoods. The mission of this CoE is to establish a unique multi-stakeholder platform that advances the technology, skills, and knowledge fundamental to improving smallholder productivity & profitability.

The multi-stakeholder nature of the CoE allows a “whole of system approach” to ecosystem change and will cover the entire value chain. There are three key pillars of CoE, viz, Technology Transfer, Skill Enhancement, and Knowledge and Community Building. These three focus areas of the CoE are the impact multipliers for agriculture and sustained efforts will unlock potential, enabling food system resilience in the region.