°AHoRa: Application for family farming of Musaceae

Code:

ATN/RF-17245-RG(RG-T3387)-3

Initiative:

Call for Proposals

FONTAGRO Amount:

USD 200.000

Counterpart Amount:

USD 462.490

Execution time

24 Months

Total Amount:

USD 662.490

Participating countries:

Colombia

Dominican Republic Peru

Peru

Funding source:

FONTAGRO Amount 30% Other agencies 0% Counterpart Amount 70%

Executive Summary

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.

The technological solution

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.

Results

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.

Beneficiaries

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.

Sustainable Development Goals

Main donors

Project news

Presentación proyecto °AHoRa

12/02/2021

Go to the project webstory Learn more about this story

Participating Organizations

Executor

Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria (AGROSAVIA) - Colombia

Co-executor

Universidad de Piura (UDEP) - Perú
Instituto Dominicano de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales (IDIAF) - República Dominicana
Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agraria (INIA) - Perú

Associated

Dirección Regional de Agricultura de Piura (DRAP) - Perú
AGROSOFT S.A (AGROSOFT) - Perú
Cooperativa Agraria APBOSMAM (APBOSMAM) - Perú
Asociación de Productores de Banano Orgánico Valle del Chira (AVACH) - Perú
Asociación de Bananeros del Magdalena y la Guajira (ASBAMA) - Colombia
Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago (UTESA) - República Dominicana
Asociación de Bananos Ecológicos de la Línea Noroeste – Banelino (BANELINO) - República Dominicana