News Flash || Cohort of SZC, Bolevan Farms and GrainPro will present “Zero-Hunger” solutions at WFP Innovation Pitch Night in Munich
The Seed Bank Project co-developed by Bolevan Farms, Shanzhai City and GrainPro has been selected by World Food Programme (WEP) Innovation Bootcamp to identifying and creating solutions to feed the world. The Bolevan team — handpicked from 700 hundreds of applicants — is going to present their “Zero-Hunger” solutions to an audience of investors, partners and humanitarian and development experts at the WFP Innovation Pitch Night on 15 February 2019.
United Nations World Food Programme
The World Food Programme (WEP), whose mission is to end global hunger, was founded in 1963 and is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. On average, WFP reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries each year by providing food assistance at the onset of emergencies.
WFP’s Strategic Plan for 2014–2017 lays out 4 objectives to achieve a world with zero hunger. They are:
- To save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies;
- To support food security and nutrition and (re)build livelihoods in fragile settings and following emergencies;
- To reduce risk and enable people, communities and countries to meet their own food and nutrition needs;
- To reduce undernutrition and break the intergenerational cycle of hunger.
821 million of people suffering from chronic hunger
Despite increased efforts to disrupt hunger, the number of people who are facing chronic food deprivation has been on the rise since 2014.
According to a latest study of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number of undernourished people has increased to nearly 821 million in 2017, from around 804 million in 2016. The prevalence of undernourishment is worsening in South America and most regions in Africa. Without consistent efforts, the world will fall far short of achieving the SDG target of eradicating hunger by 2030.
WEP Innovation Bootcamp in Munich
To achieve zero hunger, innovative tools and approaches are potential ways out of the current situation. Collaborating with Google Developers Launchpad, WFP Innovation Accelerator selected 10 teams — featuring innovation techniques such as human-centred design and lean startup methodologies — whose projects could finally help put an end to hunger to take part in a bootcamp held on 11–15 February in Munich, Germany.
Over the past five days, innovation and humanitarian experts from WFP helped teams to deep-dive challenges, ideate solutions and refine project plans.
On 15 February 2019, the team will present their solutions to an audience of investors, partners and humanitarian and development experts at the WFP Innovation Pitch Night in Munich.
Since the launch of the Accelerator in 2016, more than 30 teams and innovations have progressed from bootcamp to join the Sprint Programme, where they received funding, hands-on support and access to a global network to bring their concept to life.
The Seed Bank Project
Co-cultivated by Bolevan Farms, Shanzhai City and GrainPro, Bolaven Seed Bank Project is a village-based lease-to-own model of hermetic storage containers for seeds, which utilizes private blockchain technology and the Internet of Things.
This type of storage can improve rice seed germination rates, from less than 10% to approximately 85% after 9 months of storage. These containers can also prevent post-harvest losses due to infestation, pilferage, and contamination. The team already has the support of the WFP Laos Country Office.
Bolaven Farms is the leading organic grower and supplier of the finest Bolaven coffees. Fine Bolaven coffees are rare and distinctive, grown and processed in the pristine environment of the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos. Bolaven Farms is at work to redeem the soils and nurture sustainable ecosystems promoting healthy and productive agrarian community developments.
Keep rolling to meet the other 9 innovative teams for this round’s WEP Innovation Bootcamp:
Automated Livelihoods Information Assistant (ALIA): an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tool to generate narratives that WFP programme officers can use to come up with a plan of action in response to a disaster.
Biometrics — Leave No One Behind: an innovation seeks to find a non-invasive biometric solution that provides greater accuracy and flexibility and is software-based, helping to register, track and improve nutrition services in the world’s most challenging environments.
Circular Supply Chain: offering full end-to-end visibility for the source of the product and the producers/growers story, and features an app for users to tip producers.
Numer8: using images from space, analyzes them and makes collected intelligence easily accessible to fishing communities, helping fishermen predict the nature of catch, time and seasonality.
Satellite Index Insurance for Pastoralists in Ethiopia (SIIPE): integrating mobile and satellite technology into microfinance solutions for vulnerable communities.
Pesitho ECOCA: The ECOCA is a compact, self-contained solar cooker. The unit is small, light-weight, simple and intuitive in daily use, and may have multiple applications in places where WFP works. Pesitho, a Danish socio-economic enterprise, is collaborating with Caritas, Denmark on the ECOCA.
Nepal Crop Monitor: collaboration between Nepal WFP team and SurveyAuto will develop a platform which uses high-resolution multi-spectral imagery and deep machine learning to automatically classify crops and provide weekly yield predictions for Nepal.
NutriFami India: developing an e-learning app to coach cooks through gamification, to further scale the training. As illiteracy is common among the target audience, Nutrifami presents an ideal learning platform.
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