Mumbai, Jul 9 (PTI) German drug and agrochemicals major Bayer on Thursday said it has partnered with a Tata Trusts agency, CInI, to promote agri-entrepreneurship and market-oriented interventions to benefit smallholder farmers and rural farming communities in India.

With the partnership, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) will be closely involved in Bayer's 'Better Life Farming' BLF initiative that currently supports 80,000 smallholder farmers and 78 BLF centres in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, the company said in a statement.

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BLF operates in India as an alliance between Bayer, IFC (World Bank Group), Netafim, Yara Fertilisers, DeHaat, Big Basket and AgriBazaar.

It focuses on equipping smallholder farmers with modern agricultural technologies and promotes agri-entrepreneurship through BLF centres, which provide access to multi-brand agri inputs, crop advisory and market linkages.

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Bayer plans to open over 40 BLF centres in areas covered under CInI programmes and support Farmer Producer Companies to improve the financial and operational management of their farming business, the statement said.

Bayer will also support CInI in an initiative that runs across Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra and Gujarat to help farmers earn over Rs 1,00,000 per annum.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)