Maricho November Edition

17
How food innovation hubs will
scale technology to transform
our food system
This article is part of the Bold Actions for Food as a Force for Good
Innovation can make food systems inclusive, efficient,
sustainable, nutritious and healthy. To ensure everyone
in the global food system can benefit from technological
advances, we need local innovation ecosystems to increase
investments, create policy incentives, build capacity and
develop smart partnerships.
The World Economic Forum, UN World Food Programme (WFP)
and other partners are developing regional food innovation hubs
to drive solutions to meet local challenges and scale impact.
Imagine Sandra, a smallholder farmer in Utopia, providing for her
family of four by growing maize and tomatoes. She struggles
to make ends meet and sometimes depends on assistance
programmes. She wants to improve her income and the soil
health of her farm which has been deteriorating due to frequent
droughts.
Start-up Precis.IO has a precision agriculture technology that
uses big data and machine learning to help farmers plan and
apply the optimal inputs. These tools could help Sandra improve
yield and even lead to significant reductions in GHG emissions.
However, Precis.IO is struggling to scale up their impact and
reach smallholder farmers like Sandra.
Meanwhile, Company Inc. has invested in IOT technologies to
reduce food loss for farmers across the tomato supply chain, but is
struggling to meet processing requirements as the produce from
farmers like Sandra does not meet the sustainability standards
needed for procurement. Company Inc. needs partnerships with
NGOs, farmer-producer organisations and financial institutions
to deploy better inputs, financing, manage risk, advise and train
farmers for better production practices.
Michael is an affluent urban consumer in Utopia who uses an app,
Idea.IO., which scans food labels and provides information on the
product’s environmental footprint. He likes that the tomatoes
from Sandra’s farm have lower GHG emissions and he is willing
to pay a higher price for them, but he wants to ensure that
farmers are receiving this premium. But Idea.IO needs investors
or partners to develop this feature.
The key priorities of the Utopia government is addressing food
security and nutritional goals, and dramatically reducing the
environmental footprint of food production. It recognises that
technology innovations can provide leapfrog opportunities, but
physical and technological infrastructure is needed to unlock
such investments. It also wants to ensure equitable access to
benefits for farmers like Sandra.
MARICHO
A resource for Agribusiness