2021 GCSA Outstanding Practice: Harvest the Power of the Sun - Harnessing the power of solar technology forsustainable Agriculture

In 2050, the world is expected to feed 9.7 billion people, which means there is a need to produce 70% more food. Currently, global statistic shows that up to40% of fresh harvest goes to waste everyday. Food safety & security and climate change are getting more and more critical. In recent years, climate change has disrupted food quality and availability.

Indonesia is the third-largest agricultural producer in Asia and 50% of tropical produce is lost daily due to mismanagement, lack of training and technology. Since 2017, Impack has installed 189 solar dryer dome (SDD) and 178 solar table dryer (STD) across 29 provinces, reducing 479 tCOe. With our partner Covestro, its regional installers have installed over 1,000 SDDs regionally, including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Myanmar, using Impack's material, impacting more than 360,000 lives. With SDD and STD, farmers can increase their production volume and revenue by 50% and product market price is increased by 25% from turning food waste to high-quality dehydrated products.

Distinguishing feature(s) of the program making it an effective response to the2030 Agenda and the SDGs (i.e., integration of environmental, social, economic indicators; design for an acceleration of progress or for reaching the furthest behind; interlinkages among the SDGs; institutional changes; and a creation of ‘postharvest ecosystem' to achieve 'sustainable social transformation' of underserved communities). The program empowers small farmers with: (i)Evaluation and assessment study with support from the concerned state governments to identify a baseline, (ii) Postharvest technology to reduce wastage of farm produce by increasing shelf-life, achieved through SDD and STD, (iii) Market linkage by connecting farmers directly to the markets, (iv) Skill development and training in the agri-value chain, and (v) Postharvest Food Security Platform, a digitally-smart initiative to connect important stakeholders to co-create action plans.