Until today, the majority of the world’s farms are managed by independent smallholders. Altogether, those small farms operate around 80% of the world’s agricultural land. Unfortunately, their low yields and incomes combined with lack of market and financial access can increase the risk of deforestation and biodiversity loss.
Including smallholders into sustainable supply chains provides an opportunity to ensure stable living standards and reduce the risk of deforestation. However, the integration of smallholders into sustainable supply chains is difficult due to the complexity of supply chains and limited information. The location of smallholders is often unknown and traceability a big challenge for downstream supply chain actors. Against this background, Meo Carbon Solution, in a joint project with Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS) and International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC), developed a new and user-friendly mobile application which allows mapping, tracking and monitoring of smallholders and enables users to trace back raw material to smallholder field level.
The Smallholder App
The Smallholder App is a new and user-friendly mobile application which allows the collection of basic farmer data, pictures and polygons of farmer fields. All data can be securely uploaded into an cloud-based database. The app is customizable according to the specific needs of user.
The Tracking App
The Tracking app allows to trace back crops to smallholder fields. Using QR codes for identification, the data collector can identify the amount of delivered crops per smallholder, register entire delivery tours and data at the recipient (e.g. palm oil mill). Through the tracking app, fully traceable supply chains can be achieved.
The GRAS MIS
The GRAS MIS allows the visualization of all collected data, which have been uploaded into the cloud. The system includes an integrated sustainability assessments function, which can automatically analyze farmer field polygons against protected areas, deforestation, peatlands, fires and more. Further, the systems allows the user to identify gaps (e.g. low yields) and plan specific trainings. The continuous data collection through the apps allows the monitoring (e.g. performance improvements) of the smallholders. Data can be entered in the system either via the apps or through specific upload functions. All data (e.g. field outlines as geojson) can be easily downloaded for further needs.
