TE-FOOD to provide traceability in the Caribbean, funded by the European Union
CTA, a joint institution of the ACP Group of States (Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific) and the European Union will fund the implementation of TE-FOOD’s farm-to-table traceability solution for a Callaloo supply chain in Trinidad and Tobago. The local implementation works will be performed by TE-FOOD’s Caribbean partner, the Caribbean Agribusiness Development Company (CADCO).
Callaloo is a traditional Caribbean vegetable dish, especially popular in Trinidad. It’s a mixed dish from pumpkin, okra, dasheen leaves and pepper, which can be used as side dish, puree or vegetable soup.
The product is widely consumed by Trinidadians of all races and social status and is also exported to the Trinidadian Diaspora, mainly in the USA and Canada.
Besides making the Callaloo supply chain more transparent, the project is addressing a serious food safety problem: the overuse of pesticides.
One common practice that is contributing to poor quality of vegetables in the region is the indiscriminate use of pesticides such as insecticides, fungicides and weedicides. This results in high levels of chemical residues which also present a serious health risk to the consuming public.
The problem is becoming grave in the eastern and southern Caribbean, which has been moving on a “pesticide treadmill,” relying on large quantities of pesticides for crop production. It is often speculated that the high pesticide usage might be a contributing factor for increased occurrence of cancer and other malignant disorders among the Caribbean population.
Too many chemicals in the crops: Caribbean on a pesticide treadmill
This will be the first blockchain project, where traceability will start at the supplies of the farms.
TE-FOOD’s traceability system will be implemented on 20 farms, at the National Agricultural Marketing Corporation (NAMDEVCO), a government owned and operated fresh produce processing and export centre, at Woodsman Caribbean Ltd., a food processing and distribution company, and at PriceSmart retail stores.
The safe and organic farming supplies and production protocols will be delivered by H2K Agro, a Canadian based international agricultural inputs production company.
This project is intended to pilot the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of TE-FOOD’s traceability solution in Trinidad & Tobago involving Woodsman Caribbean Ltd.’s callaloo pack value chain.
A project kickoff workshop has been held in May at the CTA headquarter in Wageningen, The Netherlands, where the four funded projects worked together to identify opportunities and challenges of their projects.
TE-FOOD is the world’s largest publicly accessible, farm-to-table food traceability solution. Started in 2016, it serves 6000+ business customers, and handles 400,000 business transactions each day.
Website: www.te-food.com
Telegram group: https://t.me/tefood
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TE_FOOD
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TE_FOOD/
