Chinese-owned Syngenta group has given ConnectFarm of Brazil the contract to spend five years turning 1 million hectares of degraded pastureland in Brazil into arable land, Reuters reports, citing ConnectFarm.

The news agency quotes the Brazilian farming technology company as saying in written statement issued on Tuesday that it will help the farmers of the land to grow a variety of soybean that thrives in such areas.

The statement quotes ConnectFarm Chief Executive Rodrigo Franco Dias as saying that planting soybeans and other crops means the land can be exploited more sustainably.

The report says the project was announced by Syngenta and The Nature Conservancy in 2019.

Banks will help the farmers obtain money to plant the crop, Reuters says.