Global Bodies Partner Local Green Techs to Address Food Losses

Gilbert Ekugbe

To prevent post-harvest loss of crops in Nigeria, the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) and the Swiss Federal Laboratory for Material Science and Technology (Empa), both in Switzerland, are currently developing an open-access data science-based mobile application, called, ‘Your Virtual Cold-chain Assistant (YVCCA),’ to enable smallholder farmers, aggregators and food traders to optimise cold storage facilities and farm management through partnerships with green-tech firms.

The partnership is apt considering the fact that about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s produce is lost and wasted due to poor storage facilities, transportation challenges and absence of an effective cold chain.

In a statement to announce the collaboration, the agricultural stakeholders said following the yearly loss, about 25 per cent of smallholder farmers’ yearly income is lost to food deterioration estimated at $39.34 billion while 76.9 million metric tonnes of produce are wasted on a yearly basis.

According to the statement, yet, amid the loss and wastage, Nigeria faces significant risks due to a lack of access to cooling that can protect food, especially fresh and perishable foods.

“Besides the negative impact on farmer’s income caused by food loss, farmers suffer income loss by being forced to sell their produce at give-away prices at the wrong time due to lack of access to market information and cold chain facilities as well as harvest at the same time by almost all the farmers.

“Climate-friendly cooling technologies are available, but their deployment is limited due to lack of reliable access to energy, high-upfront costs, unavailability of proper maintenance, limited financing options and technical know-how.

Hence, the professionals have harped on strengthening the agricultural cold chain and enabling access to market intelligence as it would bring tremendous economic, health, and environmental benefits for farmers and the growing population.

“Since agriculture plays a vital role in the economy and Nigeria’s rural population is particularly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, some international organisations have also called for the deployment of technology-driven apps to mobilise farmers, dealers and traders for cold chain utilisation based on market and shared infrastructure information.

However, public storage infrastructures in Nigeria have been concessioned, and the remnants mostly dysfunctional and without capacity for cooling vegetables and fruits, “it said.

“As part of solutions to the multifaceted challenges, BASE and Empa are currently developing an open-access data science-based mobile application, called, ‘Your Virtual Cold-chain Assistant (YVCCA),’ to enable smallholder farmers, aggregators and food traders to optimise their decisions on produce and farm management, and to gain access to sustainable private-sector operated cooling infrastructures. The project was launched in September for Nigeria.

“The expansion of the project is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is being carried out by BASE in partnership with Empa on behalf of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (GmbH).

The project is the expansion of BASE and Empa’s efforts in India, which started in January, as part of the DataDotOrg Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge, piloted in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

“With the use of business model innovation, digitalisation and data science, our interdisciplinary team is working in close collaboration with local entrepreneurs and other stakeholders in Nigeria to strengthen the agricultural cold chain and generate measurable environmental and social impact,” the Project Lead at BASE, Thomas Motmans said.

Project lead at Empa, Dr. Daniel Onwude, said: “We are now gathering data and building the relevant models. The innovation aims to use a proactive and sustainable data science approach by upcycling the many data sources available in the food supply chain into ready-made information to save food and improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers in Nigeria.”