Farmers in Africa and other parts of the developing world need better technology, improved services and access to markets to succeed, according to officials of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.

That success, they said, will both help lift farmers out of poverty, make them more commercial and will, in turn, help countries in the developing world become far more food secure than if they were to rely only on food aid programs.

"What we want to do is help smooth the transition from subsistence farmers into commercial farmers," said Marco Ferroni, executive director of the foundation, who attended...