SFS Program

    We are committed to solve the problem of food waste, high retail price, and carbon emission problems from manure and enteric fermentation.

    We are proposing a data gathering based model which will predict and provide producers information about rising demands of specific foods at specific time of year at specific states/districts. Our company will work as a middleman and will buy the foods from producers at a fair price (by charging low for transporting) and will also provide efficient transportation system which can result in less food waste. Our company will also teach how to make high quality livestock food practices and ensure this practices- such as supplementation with urea-molasses multi-nutrient blocks (UMMB).

    If our solution is applied globally, the food waste can be reduced by one-third while reducing carbon emission significantly.

With being the 8th most populous country with 1.6% growth rate, Bangladesh’s total approximate food waste(FW) was observed to be (14,618.11) tons/day in 2015 and is projected to be (31,768.2) tons/day 2025 subsequently. 

Food wastes generate mostly because of production- supply chain mismanagement. Many farmers also failed in selling their products, resulting in post-harvest losses (20% rice, 30-40% vegetables). These results into not meeting the demands of the consumers. Then, the price of vegetables like onions, rice, liquid milk and beef is increasing alarmingly. This led to increasing in living costs in by an 8.44 percentage points in 2017 from 2016. As a result, rates of malnutrition in Bangladesh are among the highest in the world. Lacking an efficient food supplying transportation system is the main cause of both high retailing price and food waste. 

Traditionally, small-scale farm household systems often associated with having small dairy herds. Because of farmers lacking knowledge on feeding livestock, the dairy cattle sector in Bangladesh is responsible for about 52.2 million tons Carbon Dioxide emission from manure and enteric fermentation. These problems are affecting not just producers and consumers, in fact everyone.

At first, our company will use machine learning model through which we can predict at what time what food/vegetable demand is huge of a district. Basing on that, we can tell farmers what to produce at a specific time.  Thus producers can understand the demands of consumers and can fulfill easily. Since, this app will predict about specific demands at specific place, we can map out our transportation system more efficiently. We will buy from farmers at high price by charging low for transportation of food.

Our company will teach farmers how to make high quality food for livestock such as using UMMB process, making nutritious food in low cost but increases livestock’s metabolism, which results in 3%-36% less carbon emission reduction from methane and enteric fermentation while increases the milk production by 15%-20%. We will make it compulsory to feed to livestock if they want to helped by us with low retailing price. They can earn more money than now if they stick with us but have to maintain rules to be helped. Thus, we ensure low-carbon-emission.  Higher milk production opens a path for farmers to earn more and is a potential way to reduce malnutrition problems.

We are serving both consumers and producers.

Four members of our team stayed in village during this quarantine time and spent time with many farmers. They understood that farmers had to work for long hours to produce small amount of foods. Sometimes they cannot even recover their cost because of lacking an efficient transportation system. They also have problem in predicting the demands from various parts of the country. Our app, in that case, can help them in predicting the demands. 

By providing a well-planned supply-transportation system, we are increasing producers’ chance to sell more of their products to earn some profits. Later, they can use the profit to buy agricultural machines like tractors, or GM seeds to produce more products in a shorter span of time. Food prices are rising mainly due to the agriculture-food supply chain mismanagement and unable to deliver when consumers need the most. We strongly believe that our trucks can send the products the right time when consumer need them and thus our company can contribute in reducing food prices. Thereby, consumers will have same amount of money but they can buy more food products. Thus, reducing food prices can also reduce malnutrition rate.

Using the model, we are telling farmers what to produce for a specific region and predict where the demand is highest and lowest. By doing so, we can transport- using our trucks- necessary amounts of products to that specific region efficiently. Our company is monitoring everything from the beginning to the end, resulting in less food waste while increasing producer’s chance of selling their products and fulfilling consumer’s demands. Teaching farmers about making nutritious livestock foods will increase livestock’s metabolism and productivity and thus reduce methane production, resulting in low carbon emission.

Our solution is quite unique as 

• Very few companies working in the developing countries encounter the problem of high livestock carbon emission as efficiently as our solution does.
• Our low cost fertilizer will not only also ensure low emission of green house gases by livestock such as cows, goats etc., but also will make the cows more healthy and nutritious. It will increase the productivity of them. This is not widely used in developing countries.
• From the perspective of a farmer of a developing country, ensuring low carbon emission might seem extravagant. But as we look from their perspective and ensure high production and improved income, we make sure that they willingly or unwillingly ensure low carbon emission which makes our solution very creative. And also it ensures increase of production with new knowledge, increase of income with low third party interruption, decrease of carbon emission and make the world a better place to live on. 
• We will try to decrease food waste by the use of deep learning which is not being used yet. 
• Farmers need money to buy advanced technologies to apply. So not only knowledge enriching program, but also storing money program is needed. We have both. We have banking option as well as the modified distance learning module. We are also trying to make them economically sustainable if they agree to enroll in our program. 

      Our complete program is basically run by four types of technology. Firstly, we will try to use AI to ensure minimum food wastage. More specifically, we use deep learning to predict demands of various crops and food products over the year and by ensuring production according to it, we will achieve minimum food wastage and food sustainability. So artificial intelligence is one of the most significant technology to us.

     Then we will be using transportation technologies to ensure safe ,secure and fast delivery.

    In addition to this, we will also use our special and enhanced fertilizer that will ensure low carbon emission by livestock. It will not only increase production by 25% but also make the livestock (and its wastes) more healthy and nutritious. It will also ensure low carbon (methane) emission by livestock as well. So this technology is very important to us as well.

    Lastly, we will use ICT. In details, we will use distance learning so that we can not only provide them various farming method and guidelines but also we can make them more acquainted with technology. Classes on usage of fertilizer, machinaries, efficient and modern farming methods, marketing, industrialization of farming will be taken digitally. It will be modified distance learning through multimedia projectors and executives in local region.

    To fulfill our vision we must ensure proper utilization of all of these technologies .Our service will be most efficient if we do so.

Our program requires four forms of technology which are AI, transportation technologies ,enhanced fertilizer and distance learning.

• Transportation Technology: At first, we will use locally available transportation system for local transportation.After we branch out and spread more, we will use heavy transportation to ensure safe, secure, fast delivery from division to division or state to state.This is also an application of existing technology.
•  Enhanced fertilizer : We will be using Urea-molasses multi-nutrient (UMMB) blocks which consists of molasses (30-50 %), urea (5-10 %), a cereal bran such as rice, wheat or maize bran (15-25 %), an oil seed meal such as soybean meal, coconut meal or groundnut meal (10-20), salt (5-7 %), lime or cement (5-10 %), bone meal (5-7 %) and minerals (1-2 %). FAO is researching on this to enhance it even more. These fertilizers are easy to produce, efficient and of low cost. UMMB increases livestock production and ensure low carbon emission by livestock. As FAO has already produced UMMB(Urea Molasses Multi-nutrient Blocks), there is no doubt that this technology works.
• Distance Learning: Distance learning is already quite  a popular technology. We will use it to give farmers guideline. This is also an application of used technology.
• AI: In this regard ,we will be using deep learning to create a data based predictive model that collects data of agricultural sales and production of the last few years and predicts the demands of agricultural products. SO this is simply a unique application of already existing technology .

Our purpose is to reduce carbon emission and develop both farmer's and food's condition and for that we want to affect the farmers of developing country. For achieving that goal, we taking several strategies and tactics to overcome the current problem. 

Figure: Theory of Change

    And by our strategies, we can attain reduced carbon emission within a shorter period. Our program will increase the incomes of farmers by several times which will turn into no poverty, zero hunger, increased literacy rate, reduction of malnutrition after a long while. And also we will be able to reduce food waste quickly which will turn in future to increased GNP, GDP. The increased production and nutrition will also turn to increased GNP and ensure good health and well being. The overlooked transportation system will be able to reduce the amount of corruption while transporting food significantly. 

Currently, it is not serving any people.

In one year, we can perform our program in 100 areas, thus serve 8000 family and more than  42,000 people. 

In five years, we can perform our program in 800 areas, thus serve 60,000 family and more than 3,00,000 people. 

We will be mainly spreading our programs during the next five
years. Spreading will automatically change the lives with the
touch of technology and bring on economical and technological
revolutions. We will try to establish the solution in our country and
then to go beyond the country and apply it globally.

It will change the lives of them- whom our solution serves as
well as of them- who serve the solution. And our program will
get impulse in an exponential factor- the more our solution serve,
the more we will be economically sustainable and more impactful and again we can serve solution to people more than previous, which will go in a
loop and give an exponential increment.

This exponential graph will reach its equilibrium automatically
when we will be able to ensure the minimum amount of carbon emission by livestock and the farmers working with us become economically sustainable.Then our program will reach it's epitomy and our vision will be fulfilled.

We will be working along the next few years to fulfill this vision,
to get what we aim for, to reach our goal and to help
farmers to make their production and their income more sustainable, to ensure low carbon emission. And this
can make the world a better place.

There are several barriers for succeeding the program. Some of them are

• Lack of Initial Impulse with Fund: We are progressing with our solution but it will take a huge amount of time without external funding as we are trying to provide the transportation system of food to consumer in a very low cost.  Without fund, we have to start with own small capital in a local community and then after getting revenue from it, we can move on towards providing service in another area. Having an initial fund will help us to spread quickly and broadly which will work as a huge impulse.
• Lack of Reach: Huge international reach can bring on a lots of helping hands which is required to apply the program in their country and also to get help from them initially. And also this will help to find us data before applying their country.  For such program which needs initial funding, this reach helps a lot and we lack of outreach which is a current barrier for us. Outreach will not only help us financially but also will help us to get acceptance.

Our main barriers are lack of initial impulse with fund and reach- which can be solved by help of Solve community.

• Through Solve's prize funding and partnership opportunities, we might get a part of initial funding by which we can do our works quicker and broader than our current condition. Broadening will help you get revenue back to get financial sustainability quickly and quickening will add an impulse on getting financial sustainability.
• With Solve's prize funding, partnership opportunities and mentoring, we can increase our reach which will help us to remove our barrier. More reach can bring on more funding or help which will work as an impulse to program for making it quicker and broader. Also it will increase our acceptance, chances to apply globally, revenue, secondary clients or consumers and so on.
• By Solve's mentoring or connecting programs, we will be able to find secondary clients. It will fulfill our SFS Program's vision.

Without these, barriers can be removed with progressing slowly which is actually too slow and also will remain in a narrow range for a long time. These helps will work as catalysts. 

Full time staffs: 5

Part time staffs: 10

Executive Members for various region : 7

Advisors: 2

• We choose executives from low incoming society, who lived and produced
  there and now living out in the city for running family or other reason. They know the way of their thinking, what strategy will be right for them and how to start the program in their area. Their experiences uniquely position our team to deliver the solution.
• Beside this solution, team leaders previously arranged a lots of events, on their own or from their other organizations, to help marginalized people. This includes teaching, financial helping and so on. These skills and experiences also uniquely position our team to solve the problem due to the ability to work and ability to influence those people.
• We also have executives from 'Food Science and Technology' department. They can help us in improving the fertilizer and in ensuring low carbon emission even further. They will also help while training the farmers.
• Our data scientists can create AI data predictive model using machine and deep learning, which puts our team in the best position to deliver this solution.

Currently, we are not partnering with any organizations. But we have plan to partner with SWS as they are working on the same region and same targeted people. 

    Our targeted customers are farmers of developing country. And for being connected with them, our chosen executive from their society will be a bridge for us. They will take the responsibility of the prosperity of their society. For growing our customer, we will arrange workshop and establish local stations with the help of chosen executives. And for keeping our customers, we will keep contact with them and be updated with their steps through our executives.

    We will buy foods from them at a high price to increase their income. And still we can transport foods to consumers in current prices without being hampered. Our machine learning models will predict the consumer's demand pattern and inform farmers. Also several skills will be trained by modified distance learning (where the learner will provided with the chance to get access to technology to learn from remote). And if they want to stick with us, they have to apply these skills and maintain our rules. Executives will keep us updated about them and thus customer relationship will grow. We also offer banking opportunities to buy new technology when they start getting higher earnings. 

Our main barriers are lack of initial impulse with fund and reach- which can be solved by help of Solve community. We are applying to Solve because-

• Through Solve's prize funding and partnership opportunities, we might get a part of initial funding by which we can do our works quicker and broader than our current condition. Broadening will help you get revenue back to get financial sustainability quickly and quickening will add an impulse on getting financial sustainability.
• With Solve's prize funding, partnership opportunities and mentoring, we can increase our reach which will help us to remove our barrier. More reach can bring on more funding or help which will work as an impulse to program for making it quicker and broader. Also it will increase our acceptance, chances to apply globally, revenue, secondary clients or consumers and so on.
• By Solve's mentoring or connecting programs, we will be able to find secondary clients. It will fulfill our SFS Program's vision.

Without these, barriers can be removed with progressing slowly which is actually too slow and also will remain in a narrow range for a long time. These helps will work as catalysts. And we are applying to solve so that we can remove this barriers easily and apply our solution to our targeted population quickly and broadly.

Our main barriers are lack of initial impulse with fund and reach. With Solve's help in marketing, media and exposure- this problem can be solved and thus we can get more acceptance and can affect millions of lives more easily. Also as we lack initial funding, Solve can help us there too with their partnership and funding. 

We want to partner with those non-profit organizations who work in our range with targeting our targeted population. We also want to partner with several agricultural institute through which they will be more skilled. 

Connecting with organizations like FAO will be helpful too. Solve can create a bridge with us to those international organizations.

      Artificial Intelligence is to be considered one of the most powerful concept that can serve humanity unfathomably. So we will aim to use AI to improve the lives of those who will be influenced by our solution. More over we want to use it to ensure food sustainability which will serve the humanity as a whole.

      To be more specific, our program mostly will require machine learning. We will use machine learning and try to predict the demands of various crops and food products over the year. We will also ensure the production goes according to the demands which will result in minimum food wastage. Thus, food wastage can be reduced to minimum and food sustainability can be ensured. Besides , the farmers who will be producing according to our plan will also be heavily benefited. Their expenditure will be most efficient as there will be minimum wastage. As a result , there income and consequently their life will improve. This can also be a prime example of the fact that we will use AI to improve life of others, for humanity rather than monetary purposes.

      Our aim is to use AI to minimize food wastage and maintain food sustainability, which is a major challenge for the world right now.So in these terms , the sole purpose of our AI is to serve humanity. Afterwards, we will use the AI for Humanity Prize to apply our solution in a broader range with faster speed.