Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
post

Explore innovations transforming the agriculture, food sector at the Expo 2020 Dubai

Sun 20 Feb 2022    
EcoBalance
| 3 min read

DUBAI: What do farming on the rooftops of Singapore, a Ghanaian enterprise transforming women’s lives using an ancient grain and ‘soilless plants’ uplifting women and youth in Nairobi all have in common? Together they form a fraction of a wide array of projects, supported by Expo 2020 Dubai, that are transforming agri-food systems and livelihoods worldwide – part of the World Expo’s ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that call for major transformations in food systems to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030.

Take USA-based Re-Nuble, supported under Expo 2020’s global innovation and partnership programme Expo Live, whose nutrient delivery technology converts food waste into cost-competitive, controllable fertilisers. Specialising in hydroponic farming – a fast, economical and sustainable method of growing plants without soil – the group helps farmers produce more profitable organic produce, at half the cost of inorganic production. Its tech is also easily transferable for use in soil-based agriculture, delivering enormous greenhouse gas emission reductions by diverting food waste away from landfills.

Coffee farmers receive less than 10 per cent of the final value of a roasted coffee bag, even though they do most of the work. With this in mind, Peru-based Café Compadre, another Expo Live grantee, offers a business model that dramatically increases a farmer’s income. Its solution involves installing a solar coffee production station in the jungle, which farmers can use throughout the year to process and roast their coffee for themselves, earning extra income for their work.

Elsewhere, grantee Hydroponics Africa is empowering women and youth in the slums of the Kenyan capital Nairobi to become social entrepreneurs, enhancing both livelihoods and nutrition levels through hydroponic technology. The group, incorporated in 2015 to address the root cause of poverty and food insecurity, seeks to provide cost-effective sustainable farming methods without the use of soil that results in an 80 per cent reduction in water. 

Expo Live also supports Ghanaian social enterprise Amaati, led by Founder and CEO Salma Abdulai, that has pioneered the revival of West African grain fonio, which can be grown on degraded land. Having started with 10 landless women in the 2014 production season, Amaati now works with more than 2,000 farmers, providing a path out of poverty and inequality for women in Northern Ghana with skills training and an income.

Lifting farmers out of poverty underpins the efforts of Thailand-based Jasberry Rice, which is opening up new income opportunities for Thai farmers – up to 14 times more than average farmers – by teaching them how to grow organic Jasberry rice, a highly nutritious variety of purple rice that allows farmers to tap into the lucrative superfood market. Elsewhere in the region, Expo Live-backed Cropital is boosting the incomes and productivity of farmers in the Philippines through crowdfunding, with investors taking those who need it one step closer to a better life.

Support for small hold farmers is by no means limited to Expo Live, with the World Expo’s Global Best Practice Programme spotlighting 50 impactful and sustainable solutions – so they can be scaled for further impact – to advance the world’s collective progress on the SDGs.

They include Ghana-based Esoko, which offers digital services, including real-time market prices, three-day weather forecasts and localised climate smart agricultural tips and techniques (via SMS, voice SMS and call centres in local languages), empowering farmers to score better prices for their products. Its appeal is evident, with one million farmers served to date, half in Ghana and the remainder across 19 African countries.

Global Best Practice Programme project Sustainable Growers is boosting the livelihoods of women in Rwanda with its Question Coffee Café and Training Centre in the nation’s capital, Kigali – cultivating a thriving coffee culture through increased local demand. With female farmers doing much of the day-to-day work, yet receiving little training, and rarely being direct recipients of income for their labour, the project is ensuring the viability of women farmers.

In Singapore, the programme spotlights Edible Garden City’s Citizen Farm project, a response to the city-state’s target to grow 30 per cent of its food locally by 2030 in light of finite agricultural land and a limited capacity for traditional crop cultivation. By farming rooftops and other under-used spaces around the city, the initiative has seen 50 varieties of edible plants – such as leafy greens, edible flowers, microgreens, herbs and mushrooms – grown since its launch, increasing Singapore’s resilience and enhancing people’s connection to food.

Elsewhere in South East Asia, the Asian Development Bank is establishing sustainable alternative livelihoods for women and indigenous people in Indonesia and the Philippines, raising income levels while protecting ecosystems. Partnering with government agencies, local businesses and communities, the project – another Global Best Practice Programme project – provides skills and vocational training for the management of mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs, reducing the vulnerability of coastal habitats to storms, erosion and climate change.

In Bhutan, the UN World Food Programme-devised ‘PLUS School Menus’, another Global Best Practice Programme-backed initiative, to address the challenge of creating school menus that meet the nutritional requirements of different age groups. This online software calculates the most cost-effective meal plans and ensures dietary diversity, whilst boosting local economies with procurement from home-grown smallholder farmers. Having the ability to identify and integrate the most convenient agricultural products, this solution strengthens local economies, with farmers benefitting from a stable market, in turn increasing incomes.

Source: Expo 2020 Website


Leave a Reply