Echoing the theme ‘Right to foods for a better life and a better future’, on this year’s World Food Day – taking place annually on 16 October – the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is calling for everyone’s right to a diverse and nutrient-rich diet that is affordable, accessible and safe.
Food safety as well as transparency on products’ lifecycle from seed to shelves is precisely the focus of the EIC Accelerator Blended Finance project, ROBI.
For this reason, on this significant annual recurrence, we are spotlighting one EIC Accelerator beneficiary: the Croatian company AGRIVI. Coordinating the ROBI project, in the last few years it has positioned itself as one of the global leaders in software solutions for the digitalization of agriculture, poised to lead to a greater empowerment of agri-food stakeholders and growers.
The multidimensional challenge of securing food safety, quality and transparency
AGRIVI’s approach to solving the global food problem is based on the idea that, to achieve this, a change in the way farmers produce is not sufficient, as collaboration between farmers and the agri-food value chain should also be enhanced. This is why the EIC-backed ROBI project goes beyond bringing a farming app to growers: it aims, instead, at digitalising every level of the agri-food value chain – supporting all of its stakeholders – including:
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Farms and farming holdings, through real-time field insights into weather conditions, pest risk and crop health so as to enhance agronomic and financial plans.
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Seed, agrochemical and fertilizer manufactures, enabling them to deliver agricultural knowledge and advice to farmers through the use of an innovative AI-advisory platform.
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Retail chains, empowering them to secure quality and traceability reports for their own or contracted crop production through QR codes, thus enhancing consumers’ awareness.
ROBI: an AI agronomic advisor to improve productivity and sustainability
According to FAO, up to 40% of food crops worldwide are lost annually due to pests and plant diseases. Additionally, promoting sustainable use of pesticides, EU and country-specific regulations limit the number of chemicals farmers are allowed to use to counter the latter crop diseases. Against this complex regulatory backdrop, farmers often lack the time and knowledge to plan and budget their season with precision.
AGRIVI’s AI-driven digital advisory tool is aimed at filling the latter gap, building on an agricultural and crop protection products’ knowledge base. Indeed, though AI pest risk detection, the innovation will provide valuable insights into major risks to crop health as well as into current EU and country-specific regulations.
AGRIVI’s multidimensional impact: recent developments and future prospects
Following the company’s recently announced partnership with the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC) on 4 September 2024, AGRIVI’s cutting-edge agronomic advisor was made available to every farmer in Barbados via WhatsApp 24/7, a significant commitment to the company’s mission of democratising access to agri-tech to larger companies and smallholders alike.
AGRIVI – which has collected investments from funds such as South Central Ventures, Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Fil Rouge Capital and AgriTech Hub – has, indeed, since its very start played the role of ambassador and promoter of the importance of digitalisation of agriculture. On this note, Matija Zulj – AGRIVI’s founder and CEO – was named one of the ambassadors of the European Innovation Council (EIC) at the EIC Summit, held on 8 December 2022.
“I am proud that we will carry the title of ambassador and promote the importance of strengthening investments in innovation at the European level, and the opportunities that the European Innovation Council provides to startups” he noted.
The AI agronomic advisor is expected to have a multidimensional impact, including improved productivity and food safety, less post-harvest food waste and a decreased usage of pesticides leading to improved soil health and biodiversity.
Additional information
ROBI is EIC Accelerator Challenges beneficiary, which supports companies (principally start-ups and SMEs) to scale up high impact innovations with the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones in identified areas of strategic relevance. AGRIVI coordinates the project, which benefits from the company’s decade-long experience in digitalising agriculture.
For more information on the ROBI project and its transformative impact on helping improve the productivity and sustainability of farms, please visit the dedicated page on CORDIS.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.