Chairman’s letter The challenge: How to ensure  food security for such an  enormous and rapidly growing  population on a planet that has  finite natural resources. At the beginning of 2011 there were hopes  that the nascent economic recovery in Europe  and North America would mark an end to  the anxiety engendered by the financial  crisis of 2008. However, the financial health  of governments and the banking sector  deteriorated through the year, which created  a somber backdrop to economic activity. In the  emerging markets of Asia and Latin America,  growth was more robust but failed to maintain  the pace seen in previous years as the global  economic slowdown affected export markets.  Against this volatile background, Syngenta  performed extremely well in an agricultural  market that, despite weakness in the broader  economy, was generally buoyant across the  world. Relatively high crop prices encouraged  growers to invest in technology, and the  geographical breadth of the company, notably  our strength in emerging markets, meant we  were very well placed to capture these  growth opportunities.  2011 also witnessed a significant milestone as  the world’s population reached 7 billion. To put  this in context, the world’s population reached  its first billion in the early nineteenth century.  In the subsequent two hundred years the  population has grown by 6 billion and is  predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050. These stark  figures highlight the challenge: how to ensure  food security for such an enormous and rapidly- growing population on a planet that has finite  natural resources. The pressures that this challenge creates are felt  most acutely in countries whose populations  spend a large percentage of their household  income on food. These people are particularly  vulnerable to large moves in the price of food,  which can rapidly make the cost of living simply  unsustainable. Algeria and Mozambique are  two examples of such countries. In the former,  yields are some 70 percent lower on average  than in France, a highly productive country.  This is not as a result of inherently poor soil or  an unhelpful climate, rather that access to vital  agricultural technologies is restricted. Moreover,  in a country whose inhabitants spend more  than half their income on food, this is a worrying  state of affairs. In Mozambique, according to the  FAO, nearly half of its land is potentially available  for cultivation but less than a sixth is actually  used. This means that it is precariously and  unnecessarily reliant upon the importation  of food and highly susceptible to commodity  price movements.  1.  Meeting with Argentine  President Cristina  Fernandez de Kirchner in  Buenos Aires, Argentina.  2.  Speaking at ‘Just  Power – Aligning to the  New Economic World  Order’ in New Delhi, India,  on the important role  agriculture plays in  fostering development. 1. 2. Syngenta Annual Review 2011 04