Guest Lecture by Dr. Bhaskar Reddy, Executive Director, Syngenta Foundation 

Dr. Bhaskar Reddy , Executive Director , Syngenta Foundation on a visit to KSRM on 24th September, 2014 to explore the possibilities of collaboration interacted with the students. and enlightened them about various new avenues of Rural Development. He started the session with a brief introduction of Syngenta Foundation and how it works at the ground level for the welfare of the farmers. The foundation creates value for small farmers in developing countries through innovation in sustainable agriculture and the activation of value chains. He opined that this requires ‘enablers’ of many kinds, usually only made possible through partnerships. He also spoke on the budding agricultural entrepreneurs and how Syngenta Foundation has been a key modulator in creating these entrepreneurs. He explained how collaborative model of development between government, private companies and NGO’s can bring a great change in the domain of development. He highlighted features of “Collective Action” model which Syngenta Foundation is promoting and it is relevant in a country of marginal farmers in dealing with the problem of low agricultural returns.
His session also highlighted the various domains where budding rural manager can focus. He finds CSR as an attractive area for development professionals. He opined that CSR can be a bridge between the rural and the corporate world.