Food and in extension, agriculture has always been a subject I’m interested in. Beyond the economic gain one can gain by investing one's resources into the sector is a deep underlying fear and concern about the state of the sector globally.

Once in a while, we hear terrifying statistics about the world food crisis from publications by world bodies like FAO (an organ of UN) or from non-governmental organizations.

Here’s a quick reminder of the situation we’ve got in our hands:

http://reports.thomsonreuters.com/9billionbowls/assets/images/how/chart-1.png

> 11.3% of the world’s population is hungry. That’s roughly 805 million people who go  to bed hungry each night, and hidden hunger – or micronutrient deficiency – affects an additional 2 billion

>Globally 161 million under-five-year-olds were estimated to be stunted (due to poor nourishment) in 2013.
As of 2016 (2012 statistics), the World Bank has estimated that there were 896 million poor people in developing countries who live on $1.90 a day or less.

>Interestingly, the world produces enough food to feed all 7 billion people, but those who go hungry either do not have land to grow food or money to purchase it.

>In 2015, the value of the food waste from U.S. homes, consumer-facing businesses, farms, and manufacturers came to approximately 218 billion U.S. dollars. From U.S. homes alone, some 27 million metric tons of food was wasted in 2015, out of a total of nearly 63 million metric tons. One example of a food that is wasted by nearly one-third in the U.S. is bread. As of 2016, some 32 percent of bread is wasted in the U.S., with 20 percent of that amount wasted in the kitchen, and the remaining 12 percent wasted in the store.

https://damnthematrix.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/whats-wrong-with-our-food-system.jpg

So you can imagine my ecstasy when I discovered a first-of-its-kind platform that aims to not only solve the food problem of one of the most populated nations in the world but also give a healthy return on your investment.

Enter FarmCrowdy…

> Farmcrowdy is an agric-tech platform that gives the public an opportunity to invest in Agriculture. They use investors funds to secure the land, engage the farmer, plant the seeds, insure the farmers and farm produce, complete the full farming cycle, sell the harvest and then pay the investor a return on their investment. While this farm process is on-going, the farm sponsors are able to keep track of the full-cycle by getting updates in text, pictures, and videos.

For most of us, the main deterrent from engaging in the agricultural sector is the physical stress it places on one.

I discovered the platform last month and while I was quite skeptical about the kinda high returns, I made some research and found them to be legit backed by several industries leading insurance firms and media houses.

So this month, I decided to test run one of their farm shops. I picked the tomato farm which runs for 6 months and it will be interesting to see how my test experiment works out with them.

<h2>It’s All Part Of A Bigger Picture</h2>
https://naij-ask.gencdn.com/questions/25054-f78167-blog-25-pic-g.jpg
2 Years ago in college, I stumbled across a Kickstarter ran by 2 Harvard Graduates – Mira and Shane. They were planning on running large tomato farms with high-tech facilities with the end goal of producing affordable tomato paste and enriching the lives of farmers.

**The Hero Farmer Tackling  Waste**

Late last year, a viral news story told the story of a farmer in Burundi who had issues preserving his harvested tomatoes. The tomatoes would start rotting 3 to 4 days after harvest leading to huge losses, starvation and higher cost price for the country in later months of the year.

After several efforts and trials with different preservation methods, he discovered how to use of ash as an efficient tomato preservation method.

While this method looks crude, it has helped thousands of farmers all over the continent safely preserve their harvest far into other months of the year. This simple yet important method has led to increased profits and a higher standard of living for the farmers. It has also ensured that consumers can still get enough tomatoes at an affordable price.

<h2>Scaling Agriculture With Tech</h2>

https://youtu.be/poO_UkgH9os
Technology has played a huge role in the advancement of the human race. And in the area of agriculture, new innovations are churned out to combat the menace of food shortage and waste.

From advanced information tech tools, Biotechnology to even automated robotic farm assistants and equipment, technology has so much to offer in the race to stop the food crisis. There has been an increase in the number of agritech startups providing solutions not only for the supply side of the sector but also for the demand side- consumers.

**Filling 9 Billion Bowls in 2050**

Recently, Thomson Reuters embarked on an extensive research on how we can feed 9 billion bowls in 2050 – the estimated number of mouths to feed at that time.

At the core of their findings was the use of Big Data to find a lasting solution to the food production.

**Big Data and Satellite Imagery**

Before this research, FAO had published a report stating the immense benefit of using satellite imagery when providing humanitarian efforts to hunger stricken areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Analyzing satellite images by the World Food Program was essential in providing up-to-date information about areas and preventing a famine from occurring in the Sahel region.

Taking it a step further is the building of drones to track plants growth and predict weather patterns.

 
**BioTechnology**

Researchers have been studying how to improve crops and farming techniques in order to fight food problems. There is a huge opportunity in providing safer and bigger farm products harvest.

For example, mini-chromosome technology is attempting to revolutionize corn plant production. The tech helps genetically modify corn stacks in a faster and more efficient manner. Other staple foods like rice are also being modified to give higher yields.
However, there are increasing fears about the potential danger genetically modified farm can pose to man’s health and the natural ecosystem.


**Robotics and Automated Assistants**
https://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/robot-pepper-picker-1.jpg

Farming is an age-long occupation - the primary activity of man. But the advent of mechanization during the Industrial Revolution ensured that only 2% of the total human workforce now work in farms.

This percentage is about to get smaller with the introduction of robots. Mainly suited for monotonous tasks, robots, having taken over the factory production line are now ready to invade the farms also.

The automation of farming is upon us in various forms:

Robotic Pepper Picker; Automated Tractors and Potted Plants Moving Bots are among numerous automated machines slowly finding their way to the agricultural sector.

Drones are also not left out with a startup producing Drones that can detect pests and diseases with multi spectral cameras.

Overall, there has been a rise of agri-tech startups focusing on providing solutions in various parts of the agric sector. All trying achieve the ultimate goal – enough food for all.

Startups like Ynsect which focuses on insect bio-refinery and CropX which provides automated irrigation system are part of agrictech startups that have raised over $3billion in funding.

**The BlockChain is also not left out.**  An Australian startup is selling an integrated blockchain-based platform called AgriDigital that help farmers get paid in real time.

BlockChain platforms for the Agricultural sector can also help farmers get access to low-cost capital quickly.


**Conclusion**

Land is on the cheap in major arable parts of Africa. My dream is to purchase a number of acres in the nearest future and run an agri-tech community that will power a substantial part of the nation and continent’s food needs. Activities of @gardenofeden and @anwenbaumeister motivate me that this is largely possible.

Also, it should be noted that a major cause of food scarcity is poor distribution and preservation of existing farm produce. While tech can help solve this fundamental problem, efforts should be made to ensure that these tech innovations are available and affordable to the poor farmers in places where it matters i.e. Africa and Asia.

Earth already provides enough to feed its inhabitants.

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Over to you. Have you been involved in any agricultural activities before? Gardening? I would love to hear from you

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>Sources:
http://reports.thomsonreuters.com/9billionbowls/
https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-world-hunger
http://www.fao.org/hunger/en/
http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/all-series/tomato-jos-kickstarter-social-enterprise-making-tomato-paste-in-nigeria/
http://wire.farmradio.fm/en/farmer-stories/2016/11/burundi-farmer-finds-new-technique-for-preserving-tomatoes-15454
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~ssen/IDSC6050/Case3/Group3_index.html
http://www.livescience.com/2475-radical-science-aims-solve-food-crisis.html
https://unchronicle.un.org/article/biotechnology-solution-hunger
http://fortune.com/2015/05/01/how-tech-can-stop-the-looming-food-crisis/
https://farmingfirst.org/science-and-innovation#section_5
https://singularityhub.com/2014/07/14/pepper-picking-soil-testing-plant-pruning-robots-are-coming-to-farms/
http://www.farmindustrynews.com/stub-95/gallery?slide=5
http://tech.eu/features/5480/10-european-agritech-startups/