TNAU associates with Syngenta India Ltd.

Coimbatore: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Syngenta India Limited on 22.08.2023 at the Vice Chancellor's Committee Room.

Dr.V. Geethalakshmi, Vice Chancellor, presided over the function and highlighted the need for collaborative research under public-private partnership mode. The Vice Chancellor has pointed out the necessity to carry out research on frontier areas of climate change, residue issues in food produces, soil health management, etc. and highlighted that, TNAU is involved in carrying out high-end research on using unmanned aerial vehicles for crop damage assessment and using drones for crop protection.

Dr.M.Shanthi, Director of the Centre for Plant Protection Studies, informed the august house on the importance of newer chemistries of insecticides and insecticide rotation for delayed insecticide resistance development. Dr.S.Jeyarajan Nelson, Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural Entomology, presented the potential of botanical pesticide in pest management, TNAU patent on botanical products, and the scope for commercialization of botanicals. He also sought research funding for establishing a commercial botanical formulation unit and hastening the formulation process of a few botanicals developed by TNAU.

Dr.M.Murugan, Professor of Agricultural Entomology, presented the present status of insecticide resistance development in our country and the need for assessing baseline susceptibility of important insect pests that have been causing havoc in recent years. He also sought research funding from Syngenta for establishing mass-rearing facilities of selected insect pests and expected student scholarship for researching on this topic.

Dr.Vinod Shivrain, Head of Research and Development, Syngenta India Ltd. agreed upon the impending issues in the field of Agricultural Entomology and elaborated the need for collaborative research in botanical pesticides, insecticide resistance development, baseline susceptibility studies, etc. Dr.N.Pazhanisamy, Insecticide Development Head, Syngenta India Ltd., expressed the interest of the company for funding farmer-friendly projects and botanical insecticides in a collaborative research mode involving PG students.

The MoU was signed by the Registrar, TNAU Dr.R.Thamizh Vendhan and Dr.Vinod Shivrain, Head of Crop Protection Development, Syngenta India Pvt Limited in the presence of Vice Chancellor, TNAU, Coimbatore. Dr.M.K.Kalarani, Director, Crop Management, Dr.A.Senthil, Professor and Head, Dept. of Crop Physiology, Dr.G.Karthikeyan, Professor and Head, Plant Pathology, Dr.A.Santhi, Professor and Head, Nematology and Dr.C.Kameshwaran, Insecticide Technical Manager were present during the MoU signing ceremony.