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Musaceae production systems, plantain and banana, are found in all tropical regions of the world and have socioeconomic importance in all producing countries. This project provides a sustainable improvement alternative, based on local climatic information, for family production of Musaceae crops in Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic. The objective was to develop a free access App, which captures and analyzes climate data from the producing areas of the three countries, to reduce the vulnerability of small producers to climatic events and support decision making for efficient and resilient agronomic management, increasing productivity and reducing losses caused by delays in growth, flowering and harvesting of the fruit. The °AHoRa web/mobile application responds to opportunities and challenges in each country, improving the uptake of new technologies by smallholders and strengthening their capacities.
A free web-mobile application that converts local climate data into projections of growth, development, yield, fertilization and irrigation of Musaceae crops. The results of this AgTech solution contribute to competitiveness through informed decision making for timely agronomic practices.
Through the development of the °AHoRa project, the following results were obtained, among others: i) a baseline of the characteristics of producers and technicians, and crop monitoring methods in the project's areas of influence (based on a structured survey), which identified the need of both producers and technical assistants for technological tools to support decision making on crop agronomic practices. ii) A scientific surveillance study on the use of similar Apps, which showed that to date there is no free App for use by family growers of Musaceae that includes the five modules offered by the °AHoRa application. iii) Mathematical models were generated that convert local meteorological and abiotic data into projections of: potential leaf emission rate, optimum harvest date, bunch weight and crop yield as a function of the accumulation of degree days, amount of nutrients required by the plant to meet its nutritional requirements as a function of nutrient extraction per harvested ton of fruit and volume of water required by the plant as a function of the water balance, which takes into account crop evapotranspiration, precipitation and initial soil moisture content. iv) Validation of the mathematical models on banana farms in different producing regions of the partner countries. v) Development of the mobile web version of the "°AHoRa" application. vi) A business plan to ensure the sustainability of the application and to reach a larger number of end users. vii) technical capacity building through virtual and on-site workshops and technology update days. (viii) Linking of the App to 1189 people, including producers and technical assistants in banana and plantain producing regions of Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic. (ix) Videos on efficient management of fertilization, irrigation, crop management and others, published on digital platforms such as YouTube and corporate web pages, which have reached 5434 views.
The main beneficiaries of the project are producers, associations, technicians and researchers in the project's areas of influence: the departments of Magdalena and La Guajira in Colombia, the provinces of Valverde and Montecristi in the Dominican Republic, and the department of Piura in Peru. Thus far, the °AHoRa App benefits about 10,745 producers, 81 banana associations, 311 field technicians and 42 researchers. The indirect beneficiaries are public and private institutions, the scientific and academic community, as well as suppliers of inputs and services, traders, exporters and final consumers of Musaceae.
This project actively contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting more equitable, resilient, and sustainable regional development.






The tangible impact of science and technology in the field
Sponsors


With the support of


Martha Marina Bolaños Benavides

Rommel Igor León Pacheco

Marlon José Yacomelo Hernández

Jacobo Robledo Burítica

Gustavo Adolfo Rodriguez Yzquierdo

Domingo Rengifo

Juan Carlos Rojas Llanque

Karina Zúñiga

César A. Martínez Mateo

Pablo Suárez
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Angela Maria Castaño Marin

Viviana Marcela Varon Ramirez

Ewddy Nery Pérez Carrera

Aura del Carmen Paulino de la Rosa

Gustavo Gandini

Edwin Oberti Nuñez Ticliahuanca
Ulises Vladimiro Vegas Rodriguez
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William Ipanaqué Alama

Elías Saud Castillo Córdova
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Iván Belupú
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Jorge Neyra Hau Yon
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Carmen Lorena Chavarro Rodriguez
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Diana Marcela Monroy Cardenas
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Elias David Florez Cordero
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Francisco Fabian Carrascal Pérez

Martha Liliana Montes Pérez
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Carlos Estrada
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Cesar Augusto Vargas García

Pool Domarvi Nolasco Ramírez

Jennifer Tatiana Gutierrez Lizarazo
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Adriana Rivera Perez

Camilo Andrés Sandoval Benavides

Leddy Ropero Barbosa

Daniel Eduardo Mulford Soto

Gisjbert Andres Hurtado Azuero