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Fresh Depot, the first-ever physical and digital solutions platform for farmers in the Philippines, has been launched by Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc.
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The company will initially pilot a modular and sustainable cold storage unit in Mankayan, Benguet to help farmers reduce their post-harvest losses and maximize crop yield
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Fresh Depot’s second phase will involve digitalizing farmers’ land preparation and planting, pre-harvest, and harvesting data, as well as market information
Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. (AEV) has launched Fresh Depot, which seeks to become the first-ever physical and digital solutions platform for farmers in the Philippines.
Fresh Depot’s first-phase activity involves piloting a modular and sustainable cold storage unit in Mankayan, Benguet to help farmers reduce their post-harvest losses and maximize crop yield.
“Fresh Depot aims to transform the lives of our farmers by offering a platform that optimizes their yield and income while reducing waste, making a significant contribution to our country’s food security,” Aboitiz Group president and chief executive Sabin Aboitiz said in a statement.
“Uplifting the agricultural sector and our farmers is crucial to strengthening our food supply chain and reducing our reliance on imports. We see various opportunities to make an impact in this sector and this is just one of the many projects we’re working on,” he added.
A study by the Institute of Food Science and Technology of the University of the Philippines Los Baños says about 42% of locally grown produce goes bad before it can be eaten, and farmers, consumers, and other supply chain players suffer losses as a result.
In 2020, the Department of Agriculture (DA) underscored the need to establish more cold storage facilities in the country. This was echoed by the Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (PCAFI), which highlighted that cold storages reduce post-harvest losses and improve farmers’ income.
AEV noted that most cold storage facilities in the Philippines are located near urban areas and used for mainly for storing meat and other frozen products. It said these “conventional, energy-guzzling cold storages” are not built for farmers, who need farm-level and affordable cooling facilities for their crops.
Fresh Depot’s second phase will involve digitalizing farmers’ land preparation and planting practices, as well as pre-harvest, harvest, and market information.
AEV said digitalization will allow Fresh Depot to offer advisory services, explore market linkage opportunities and financial inclusion programs, as well as build a database of information that the government can use in its agricultural programs.
This pilot, which will initially run for three to six months, will become a case study for this new type of enterprise that Aboitiz hopes to scale up across other farm locations in the Philippines if proven viable.
Ultimately, Fresh Depot is envisioned to assist the government in enabling millions of farmers, AEV said.
AEV is planning to launch a second pilot location in the next few weeks.
With the support of government units and agencies, Fresh Depot is working with Mankayan’s Manpat-A Farmers Association for the first pilot site of its cold storage unit. The Benguet region is home to quality highland crops and thousands of farmers.
For its pilot project, Fresh Depot is also collaborating with two leading international agri-tech players: Ecozen Solutions Pvt. Ltd., backed by US fund Nuveen Global Impact, EXIM Bank of India, and Cropin Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd., backed by Impact Assets Singapore as one of its investors.
Ecozen manufactured the modular hybrid cold storage unit called Ecofrost, which is designed with climate-smart deep technology to harness solar energy to power the unit, with a proprietary technology for battery-less back-up that will keep the fresh produce market-ready 24/7 after pre-cooling.
Meanwhile, Cropin’s services include farm monitoring and management and an easy-to-use, seamless communication solution connecting farmers, agri-businesses, and field officers and helping digitalize farm activities.
With its presence in 92 countries, the company is known for creating the world’s first industry cloud for agriculture, Cropin Cloud, which helps the agricultural ecosystem make informed decisions that increase farming efficiency, improve productivity, manage risk and environmental changes, and enhance sustainability.
AEV said these separate solutions have been tested and proven effective in other parts of the world, such as India, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Fresh Depot’s pilot will allow farmer-participants to experience how technology has improved agriculture in other developing countries during the period, and help future-proof the industry to make it more resilient to emerging threats and challenges.
Fresh Depot has been picked by Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy, a Swiss foundation and specialized partner of United Nations Environment Programme, to participate in a three-month international incubator program.
Fresh Depot was selected along with four other global companies that make decentralized solar-powered cooling accessible to farmers on a pay-per-use basis instead of traditional methods. The incubator will support Fresh Depot in digitalizing inventory management and monitoring the shelf life of stored crops in real-time through an app.
Fresh Depot is an innovative solution that has been developed as part of Aboitiz Group’s Voyage Program, an internal initiative that aims to discover the most effective solutions to social challenges worldwide.
Other initiatives being developed under the program cover a range of sectors, including food and agriculture, power, infrastructure, education, health, real estate, and manufacturing.
Similar to other business ventures of Aboitiz, the Voyage Program initiatives are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Fresh Depot specifically aims to address UN SDGs 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), 13 (Climate Action), and United Nations Environment 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
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