Sustainable and healthy food for all can only be accomplished when problems of post-harvest loss, lengthy/inefficient supply chains, and poor storage facilities are solved. Our solution addresses all three (3).
Smallholder farmers are responsible for 90% of the food produced in Nigeria. Using mobile telephones, our solution enables farmers to prevent post-harvest losses by calling into our contact centers to negotiate and schedule produce pickup with basic information such as their name, location, type of produce for sale, sales price and planned day of harvest. Bi-lingual speaking agents fluent in the local dialect are selected for these important farmer engagement roles. The success of mobile phone penetration in Nigeria is largely leveraged here.
Poor/non-existent storage facilities are responsible for major food losses in Nigeria. The information provided by the farmer is passed on by the contact center agent to our nearest storage facility(packhouses/silos) built in strategic locations to receive produce purchased from farms. The personnel here establish contact with the related farmer to confirm and agree on details related to the collection, this is done using our 4x4 purpose acquired vehicles. Upon the arrival of produce at the storage facility, it is subjected to processes such as cleaning, drying, and sorting before being stored appropriately awaiting distribution to consumer and industrial markets.
Global food security (availability and accessibility) is highly dependent on efficient supply chains linking food between rural areas of production and urban areas of consumption. Our solution aids this by enabling local and international buyers to request food supply via our contact agents and dedicated web/mobile platforms, with basic information on food type wanted, quantity, day/address for delivery and means of payment. Upon confirmation by our contact agents, these requests are sent to the storage facilities. The personnel here then package as specified and ship using our purpose acquired high capacity vehicles. Upon dispatch, tracking details are shared with the buyer. This case is related more to industrial buyers.
To cater to consumer markets/buyers, we plan to provide infrastructure in urban cities to act as both retail centers for walk-in and distribution hubs for customers who prefer delivery to their homes. Inventory here would be supplied from our storage facilities located across rural areas in Nigeria using our high capacity distribuion vehicles.
These solutions discussed above have been developed collectively to improve the journey from farm to fork necessary to achieve sustainable and healthy food for all.
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