Syngenta Group China, the global seed, crop protection and nutrition product manufacturer, launched a digital-themed agricultural contest earlier this week to bolster modern agriculture and digital economy in rural areas across China.

By partnering with the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, a branch of the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and Nanjing Agricultural University, the competition – named 2022 MAP (Modern Agriculture Platform) digital and intelligent agriculture contest - takes companies' demand as the focus to drive the growth of modern agriculture.

"Under the epidemic situation, the digitalization process of all industries worldwide has significantly accelerated. Digital technology has infinite potential and huge benefits to comprehensively empower agricultural production in the future. It will provide an important opportunity for us to decrease gaps with developed countries," said Qin Hengde, president of Syngenta Group China.

The executive said there are shortcomings in China's digital agricultural innovation, such as fragmentation of science and technology, partial theory, lack of integration and a lack of scenario-based agricultural production application testing. Therefore, digital agricultural solutions are urgently needed in China.

China's digital agriculture is still in the initial stage of exploration in technology, equipment, system, platform and other aspects, and there is still a way to go to reach finally realized digital transformation in the industry, said Wu Wenbin, deputy director of Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning.

The scale of this year's contest and project content has been upgraded compared with last year. It has been divided into three types including the application of comprehensive technology and intelligent breeding, according to Syngenta Group China.

A total of 1.95 million Chinese farmers have registered with MAP to date. The program provides smart farming services in over 19 million mu of farmland (1.27 million hectares), covering 29 provinces and autonomous regions, according to its corporate data.