Corteva Agriscience

Corteva Agriscience™ (Corteva Agriscience) is the agricultural division of DowDuPont. DowDuPont was formed by the merger of Dow and DuPont, which was completed on August 31, 2017. The two companies merged their agriculture, material science and specialty product portfolios. Corteva Agriscience was established by combining DuPont Crop Protection, DuPont Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences and will seperate from DowDuPont to become a publicly traded company in June 2019. It supplies a diverse range of field crop hybrids and varieties alongside crop protection products. In all index regions, the company primarily works through its Pioneer brand, with maize, rice and millets considered its main crops. In Africa specifically, Pannar is considered a significant maize brand.

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Western and Central Africa

Summary of results:

Corteva Agriscience ranks tenth in the 2019 Index for Western and Central Africa, demonstrating relatively consistent scores across most measurement areas and several notable leading practices. Its highest scores are in Governance & Strategy, Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property, where its global policies and corporate positions outperform most of its regional counterparts. Of particular note is the company’s licensing of proprietary transformation and CRISPR-Cas gene-editing technologies. Corteva Agriscience’s hybrid maize adoption program in Ghana (GAMSAP) is an industry leader, albeit a relatively standalone program with respect to Capacity Building. The company does not produce seed in the region, consequently scoring only on Commitment in Seed Production. In Research & Development, the company has strong\ collaborative research projects, including with Nigeria’s Institute for Agricultural Research, but does not have any breeding stations of its own. The company offers varieties of field crops across the region but does not demonstrate tailored approaches for smallholder farmers, such as adapted packages or affordability schemes, resulting in a below-average score in Marketing & Sales.

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Operations in Scope
  • Countries in Scope
  • Company Presence
  • Production Locations
  • Breeding Station/R&D
Index Crops in Portfolio
Sales Seed type Source
cmr tcd civ cod gha lbr nga cog sen sle Hybrid OPV GM Own
breeding
program		 Public
research
institute		 Licensed
from other
company
Field crops
Beans, dry
Maize
Millets
Rice, paddy
Sorghum
Soybean
Sunflower
Wheat
Leading Practices

    Corteva Agriscience has licensed proprietary transformation and CRISPR-Cas geneediting technologies to a number of research organizations for the purpose of improving food security crops. In its sustainability report, the company highlights the first use of the technology in a joint agreement with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to combat maize lethal necrosis in sub-Saharan Africa.

    The company has a comprehensive approach to tackling fall armyworm, combining classical breeding, transgenics, entomology and insecticides to address the pest that predominantly affects index countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

    In collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Corteva Agriscience has implemented the GAMSAP program in Ghana. The program aims to increase smallholder adoption of adapted hybrid maize varieties and provide training in good agricultural practices to raise productivity and profitability, as well as improve the input supply chain to enable greater access to technology. Notably, Corteva Agriscience has similar programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, in Ethiopia (AMSAP) and Zambia (ZAMSAP).

Areas for Improvement

    Corteva Agriscience has a vast network of seed production locations throughout Africa in which it engages smallholder farmers, although not in any index countries in Western and Central Africa. The company is encouraged to expand its engagement with smallholder farmers in this region, which, if initiated, could assist with local seed sector development.

    The company has distribution channels across the region, including to remote areas, but can consider more tailored approaches to meet the specific needs of smallholder farmers. This could include packaging with pictograms or local languages or affordability schemes to reduce the up-front costs for smallholder customers.

Notable Findings

    The company’s subsidiary Pannar was established in Greytown, South Africa in 1958. In 2013, Corteva Agriscience (under the former name DuPont Pioneer) acquired majority ownership of Pannar, strengthening its position in the continent. In Western and Central Africa, the Pannar brand is sold in the Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal and Chad.

    In 2018, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with USAID, as part of the agency’s focus on increasing private sector partnerships. The five-year agreement will allow Corteva
    Agriscience and USAID’s food security initiative Feed the Future to build on existing programs to scale agricultural technology for smallholder farmers in Africa.

    The company has pledged to conserve and make available crop diversity by financially supporting the Global Crop Diversity Trust’s projects and crop germplasm bank operations.

    The company conducts collaborative research with, among others, Nigeria’s Institute for Agricultural Research to develop micronutrient-rich (iron, zinc and vitamin A) sorghum. The program was originally funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation but is now funded entirely by Corteva Agriscience.

    Corteva Agriscience, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, collaborates with the 4-H movement, a US-based network of youth organizations that seeks to support the career development of millions of young people in various sectors including agriculture and is active in Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.

    Corteva Agriscience is working with Flour Mills of Nigeria to develop the Nigerian maize market, with a focus on promoting modern farming techniques, increased use of improved inputs and knowledge transfer for local smallholder producers.

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