As the global population grows, the demand for food will undoubtedly increase. This will put a greater strain on food supplies, disproportionately affecting members of low-income and impoverished regions.
As a solution: Improve crop yields.
Author: Lielt Endashaw, 27 January 2023
Writing- Review & Editing: Yasemin Esen
As the global population grows, the demand for food will undoubtedly increase. This will put a greater strain on food supplies, disproportionately affecting members of low-income and impoverished regions. In addition, other global influences such as climate change, urbanization, and soil degradation limit the available arable land for agricultural usage.
The World Bank defines poverty as "(a) pronounced deprivation in well-being and comprises many dimensions…include(ing) low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity". In this context, poverty's endurance can result from numerous factors. This shows that poverty does not always have a linear outlook; thus, an effective solution doesn't necessarily have to solve all aspects of poverty.
The World Bank divides areas of development into several categories. We can use these categories as a guide to finding relevant solutions to reducing poverty. Some relevant categories include Agriculture/Food Sources, Investment Competitiveness, Debt, Digital Development, Education, Energy, Environment, Social Sustainability and Inclusion, Urban Development, and Water.
This particular solution relates to the first category: Agriculture/Food Sources.
Often, hunger is viewed as a direct result of poverty. Although this statement holds merit, it is essential to understand that hunger can physically weaken the body, making it difficult for individuals to work, continuously keeping them impoverished. The Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) collaborates with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory. (This collaboration moving forwards, will be referenced as SMART DiSTAP). The SMART DiSTAP collaboration is working towards mitigating hunger through their non-invasive plant health monitoring technology aims to improve crop yields. By increasing crop yields, SMART DiSTAP hopes to meet the rising demands for food while adapting to the changing circumstances worldwide. At this time, the SMART DiSTAP technology aims to be used in urban farms. There have been numerous technologies that have been developed over time to combat a lack of crop yields. Some examples are the usage of precision agriculture technologies. These methods utilize sensors along with global positioning systems to pinpoint issues relating to soil conditions and collect general data about the crops. However, these data points are not provided in real-time and often require a certain level of expertise to be used effectively.
Technological method: Engineered plant nanosensors
Working with Raman technologies, SMART DiSTAP is working to develop nanosensors that will allow for real-time plant health monitoring. The technology will detect a variety of stress-induced signaling molecules in crops. This will give farmers a detailed account of the crops' growth, development, and overall health. Notably, the nanosensors are non-destructive. This means that cutting the plant for samples, for example, will not be necessary. Overall, the plant nanosensors will guide farmers in making an informed decision about their crops.
There are a few benefits of this solution to the targeted user. To reiterate, the sensors will be able to detect a variety of stress-induced signaling molecules in the crops. Depending on the results, the farmer can adjust the kinds of nutrients to supplement, the quantity of water intake, and other means of restoring plant health. It allows the farmer to interject before the plant dies or, if it is diseased, to prevent it from spreading to the surrounding crop. The system is beginner-friendly and doesn't require a high technological literacy. The system will also show real-time results.
The predictive nature of this technology will assist farmers in producing crops that are higher in quality and will allow them to grow them in abundance. However, the profile of stakeholders is difficult to understand. This may be because the product is unavailable for purchase and consumption. The first users/customers who are most likely to use this technology are urban farmers. Since this project is broadly aimed to be used in an urban setting, urban farmers will likely be among the first to use the technology. Therefore, this might be a great asset to members of a community that rely on community gardens or urban farmers that depend on selling their produce to local farmer markets or small grocery chains. SMART DiSTAP could consider financing options to break into the market. SMART DiSTAP could provide loans to farmers by partnering with banks and other financial institutions. At the beginning of its launch, it could offer users the technology at a discounted price. They could additionally partner with non-profit organizations to alleviate the responsibility on the urban farmer or other intended users.
At this time, it is difficult to predict the challenges that users may face as the technology develops. However, the technology may be costly to users and might not yet accommodate all crop types in its initial launch. For example, Singapore is heavily dependent on agricultural imports. Therefore, the project may have a limited selection of crops to study. One possible bottleneck to this solution is that "it is challenging to extend these genetically encoded biosensors to non-model plants that are agriculturally relevant without established genetic transformation techniques. Hence, the measurement of plant metabolite levels in crops still relies on traditional mass spectrometry-based techniques". Another barrier is that these technologies may have a high cost of implementation, which small-scale farmers cannot afford. The Nation Research Foundation of Singapore currently funds SMART DiSTAP. At this time, its usage is under the preview of research. Once out of development, its cost is yet to be known.
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