New Digital Platform Will Streamline Processes for Sugar Industry Stakeholders

This pilot project is being funded by Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility and led by the Belize Sugar Industries Ltd of the A.S.R. Group, in partnership with a number of sugarcane associations and local financial institutions.  RIPE.IO is an innovative company which specializes in block chain solutions in agriculture and they have provided the design services pro bono for this project. President Phil Harris of RIPE.IO breaks down how it will work.

Phil Harris, President & Co-founder, RIPE I.O

“It has been now to allow for farmer association and the lender and agri-service input provider to go through the use of the platform to replace a physical visit by a person to a branch; a stamp on a piece paper; a signature and that constant follow-ups and back and forth of visits, appointments and interviews. Now we are taking all of that manual and physical movement of paper and we are digitizing it. So that now a farmer can come on the platform and upload a basic set of documentation alongside the load application; like a utility bill to confirm ID; a sugar license for an association; and this information is shared over the platform to the lenders so that we can expedite that process over the platform so that the process and review of the document happens much faster and very importantly that the documents are complete; and very importantly we are putting the farmer in front of this.   This is called an RFID. The idea is that this particular RFID tag will be attached to a truck and we will track the truck through the mill as a part of the traceability program and the second phase we will be able to track the sugarcane from the seed to the field to the mill and that will take us into the summer or fall of 2022. So we will know when the truck arrives, what it is weighed and when it exits. And what that will do it is that it will help us to know how efficient the mill is; were there any problems with mud or extra material; or mechanical failure? Ultimately, when this particular device leaves the mill then we gather all of the information which now is the valuable piece of information to the cane farmer – did my cane arrive at the mill? Did my cane get weighed and what was the weight? What is the first measurement of the quality of my cane? And what is the indication of price?”