To develop digital quality control tools for the early detection of fruit defects in banana farmers in India, Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) and Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) have now partnered with Innoterra.
The partnership is part of the agenda of the project “Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant,” currently being rolled out in India.
The method uses machine learning algorithms to detect defects in bananas prior to their being sold on the market. These algorithms are later being integrated into an app, which can be downloaded onto a farmer’s mobile phone.
The early detection of defects allows farmers to optimise their fruit care, storage, and logistics processes. It will lead to more effective usage of agricultural inputs, better quality fruits and less wastage along the supply chain.
The conglomerate allows combining the tech capabilities of BASE and EMPA and building on Innoterra’s deep farming knowhow to further strengthen its full-stack platform offering to smallholder farmers in India and other developing markets.
According to Dr. Anup Karwa, Head of Operations India, Nutrition Division at Innoterra, they are combining state-of-the-art technologies with Innoterra’s deep expertise in banana cultivation and tech-enabled end-to-end platform, to the benefit of smallholder farmers in India.
India is the world’s largest producer of bananas but struggles with inferior quality and high wastage throughout its supply chain. Improvements in pre- and post-harvest processes enabled by technology will make Indian banana farmers more competitive, reduce food waste, allow for better price realizations, and increase farmer income.
Dr. Thijs Defraeye, Group Leader at SimBioSys and a key person involved in developing this partnership, said: “Teaming up with Innoterra is essential for us to implement, test, and optimise the machine learning models we are developing. Working closely with them helps us to complete the innovation pipeline. “
BASE team lead and senior sustainable energy finance specialist, Thomas Motmans, welcomed this development, saying: “We are glad that the solutions we are developing as part of the project, Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant, are being adopted by Innoterra as a leading player in the agricultural sector in India.” This partnership will reduce post-harvest losses for smallholders by strengthening agricultural cold chains with business model innovation and digitalization.