HarvPort

HarvPod. A controlled atmosphere storage technology that utilizes a combination of chemicals and permeable films to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables for up to 30 days.

                    Picture 1. Chilli Pepper Price Fluctuation in 2022

Source : INDONESIA NATIONAL STRATEGIC FOOD PRICE INFORMATION CENTER

In developing countries such as Indonesia, fluctuations in the prices of fruits and vegetables in the market often occur, even on a weekly basis. One of the fresh products that often experiences fluctuations is chili pepper, which is the focus of HarvPort's early development. According to data, the price of chili pepper in the market can reach $5.3/kg, but the following week it can drop to as low as $1/kg. However, HarvPort is not here to solve the problem of market fluctuations, but to help farmers overcome them. Because of these fluctuations, farmers immediately sell chili peppers to the market, regardless of whether the price is rising or falling. This is because chili peppers are considered a perishable product that has a storage life of 3-5 days. The reason farmers sell directly after harvest is due to the lack of proper storage facilities, causing farmers to not have any bargaining power in the market. The poor storage is caused by various factors such as lack of knowledge about storage, lack of funds to build proper storage, the desire for practicality, and uneven electricity distribution in Indonesia, causing farmers to not have storage facilities. During post-harvest, storage process contributes to 37% of total losses of fruits and vegetables production in developing countries, thus improvement is needed.

Our solution is called HarvPod. It is a storage technology in the form of a box that combines the use of chemicals and permeable films to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. To use it, it is very simple: you just need to open the lid of the box, put the fruits or vegetables inside, close the lid, select the appropriate mode for the type of produce you are storing, and press start. The chemical will then start spraying inside the box. To actually spray the chemical inside the box, we will use a module called a mist maker/humidifier, which will release the chemical in the form of a mist. Our chemical will delay cell membrane degradation (Causing loss of fruit integrity), thereby extending the shelf life of the fruit. Our chemical is also considered to be Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). The permeable film will act as a "balancer" for the atmosphere inside the box and help to slow down the respiration process of the fruit.

Storage facilities designed by HarvPort have advantages such as not requiring cooling systems, having affordable prices for farmers because farmers only need to spend $0.02/kg/day of storage, and HarvPod can be customized to the agricultural commodities that farmers want to store and only require batteries in their use, so the storage box can be taken or stored anywhere. HarvPort not only provides storage, but also provides services such as washing, drying, sorting, grading, and packaging that can help farmers increase market prices and have a bargaining point.

HarvPort is present for farmers, particularly small farmers on Java Island, Indonesia, who have difficulty accessing adequate storage facilities. HarvPort helps farmers to store and extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by designing easy-to-carry and store boxes called HarvPod. HarvPod can extend the shelf life of chili pepper from 3 days to 30 days. This can reduce losses during storage by 60-70%, which can lead to an increase in the average profit earned by farmers per month to reach 116%. The increase in the average profit earned by farmers can improve the welfare and economy of farmers.

1. Mifzaldin Akbar Al Kautsar, the Founder and CEO of HarvPort. He is a Postharvest Technology student at Bandung Institute of Technology. He is proficient in Programming (Arduino IDE (C++), VHDL, Phyton), Sensors and Direct Current Electrical (Arduino and ESP32), 2D and 3D Design. He has achieved and has experience as a Top 5 Startup Campus Leader and Postharvest Class 2019 Leader.

2. Zul Aldi Rizki, the CTO of HarvPort. He is a Physic Engineering student at Bandung Institute of Technology. He is proficient in Programming (C++, Python, Matlab), Arduino, electrical software (Autodesk Eagle, Proteus 8), 2D and 3D modeling (Adobe Photoshop, Autodesk Inventor, Solidworks (CSWA certified by Dassault Systemes)), 3D printing, and some related hardware. He has achieved as a top 8 Indonesian Robotics Contest.

3. Fahri Rahman, the COO of HarvPort. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Postharvest Technology from Bandung Institute of Technology. He has experience in quality control and operational development with expertise in quality control, operations development, and management, building SOP quality, and fresh product regulation (HACCP, GHP, GMP).

4. Muhammad Hafidz Roihan, the Data Analyst of HarvPort. He is a Postharvest Technology student at Bandung Institute of Technology. He is proficient in Programming (Python and R) along with libraries related to data analytics, Tableau, SQL (Postgre), and Machine Learning (sklearn and TensorFlow). He has experience in various data analytics projects, quality control, and operational production.

5. Faisal, the Business Development of HarvPort. He has worked at Evermos (Indonesia's Largest Social-commerce with Series B $30 Mn Funding). He enhanced internally and helped SME brands (F&B, Fashion, Healthcare, etc) that successfully generated over US$2.5 Million revenues through E-commerce (Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada) during H2 2022. He also has experience building an Ed-tech Startup with 300,000+ users.

6. Revaldi Fathna Wikana, the IoT Engineer of HarvPort. He is an Engineering Physics student at Bandung Institute of Technology. He understands the Python programming language and some commonly used libraries for creating modeling and calculations. He is also familiar with the C programming language and its applications for programming microcontrollers such as Arduino and ESP32. He has experience as a coordinator for laboratory assistants in the field of microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators. He has experience creating and analyzing SLDs for AC-DC electrical networks in buildings, and integrating other electrical equipment such as inverters, rectifiers, and transformers. He also has experience with IIOT server projects on campus buildings using NodeRed as a tool for creating HMI and using php and MySQL to query data to the database.

7. Muhamad Novan Agandra Rois, the Chemical Specialist of HarvPort. He is a Chemistry student at Bandung Institute of Technology. He is a critical thinker who aims to learn about the world to better understand everything. He likes working in a team and generating impactful ideas. His current goal is to focus on personal growth. He is a leader, thinker, and futurist fueled by curiosity. He has won multiple competitions both nationally and internationally in the field of chemistry, particularly biochemistry.

As a postharvest technology student, I (Akbar) often survey and talk to farmers in Indonesia for my yearly campus project. They have many problems, from farm to fork, and I want to solve them. However, I chose to focus on the storage process, which aligns with my major. Luckily, my friends at campus shared the same concerns, so I ended up creating Harvport and they joined me on the journey in 2021. Hopefully, it can solve the problems at the farmer level first, and then we will go further to the fork level.

The story of HarvPort is a step-by-step growth. It all started when we talked with five chili pepper farmers in West Java to understand the issues that have been occurring from upstream to downstream. From these discussions, we found that chili pepper is sold directly to wholesalers when the selling price is high or low, rather than being thrown away due to the risk of spoilage. This was complained about by all five farmers, because when the price was low, they experienced a significant loss. After talking to these five farmers, we surveyed 15 more farmers to confirm whether they had the same problems and found that all the farmers we surveyed had the same concerns. After analyzing the situation, we found that farmers were not aware that the problem could be solved with storage, so they could store chili pepper when the price was low and sell it when the price was stable. Therefore, we designed storage that is suitable for farmers' needs, which can be used in any location and is easy to implement. When we asked farmers about their interest, they were very interested in trying the storage that HarvPort designed. This led to the creation of the first version of HarvPort's storage design in the Elevator Pitch video. Now, we are in the laboratory testing phase and will be moving on to the pilot phase in mid-2023.

Additional research for other commodity:

HarvPod is a new approach that can help farmers deal with price fluctuations. Previously, farmers would sell their regular harvest at whatever price it was. With this technology, the sale of the harvest by farmers is based on the selling price, not the time of harvest. HarvPod also invites farmers to improve the quality of their harvest before selling. This technology is also more effective than the technology that was used before in terms of preserving the harvest, such as refrigeration or controlled atmosphere storage. The technology we bring is lighter, making it easy to move. Power consumption is lower and can use batteries that make operations easier, so you don't have to rely on AC electricity that is less stable in agricultural areas that are usually far from the city center. Using solar panels as a power source is also less effective considering the sunlight in Indonesia is prone to change depending on the weather. The size of the device can also be customized, making it possible to use it according to your needs. In terms of cost, this technology is very cheap in terms of production and maintenance, making it very suitable for farmers who are mostly lower class people. In addition to being used by farmers, this technology can also be used by other parties such as traders and distributors.

In the next 12 months, HarvPort aims to achieve the following goals:

• Acquire at least 45 farmer customers by the end of the year, which will increase their profits by at least 58% of the target. 
• Change farmers' habits in integrating technology into their agricultural practices and altering the supply chain culture in the target market area.
•  Reduce food loss from 37% in the target market area by 60-70% resulting in food loss of only 17.8%.

By participating in this program and also receiving a grant from this program, the funding will support HarvPort's goals for this year and enable it to achieve its goal of being a solution provider this year. If achieved, it will have a positive impact on farmers' economy on a larger scale.

HarvPod can delay spoilage by slowing down the metabolism process using food-grade chemicals and permeable film, thus inhibiting cell membrane degradation. The chemicals are used to maintain the best condition of the environment inside the preservation box. The chemicals are sprayed periodically based on a predetermined time. The spraying time is determined using a special test box (different from the box that will be marketed). The test box is equipped with an ESP32 microcontroller, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, O2 sensor, CO2 sensor, and mist maker. The sensors will read the conditions inside the box in real time and then recorded by ESP32 to determine the spraying time to the mist maker. The data recorded by ESP32 will be a universal guide for determining the spraying time on the boxes that will be marketed. This makes the boxes that will be marketed not require sensors, so only ESP32 components, batteries, and mist makers are used, making the production cost lower.

Currently, we are not serving any farmers yet. However, by July 2023, we expect to serve at least 5 small farmers by processing and storing 5 tonnes of chili pepper every month. We will also strive to increase the number of farmers we serve by 5 every month. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will be serving at least 40 small farmers for 40 tonnes of chili pepper.

1. Financial:

• Funds are needed to scale the marketable box for 5 farmers.
• Obtaining a patent for the technology.
• Incorporating the startup and creating a facility for production.
• Developing products for other types of fruits and vegetables.
• Obtaining product and chemical certification.

2. Technical

• Obtain the best materials at the lowest cost
• Conduct testing to create a marketable box, which will take time and cost as we need to ensure that the box has a high level of reliability
• Many parts of the box need to be produced by vendors from other countries, so accessibility can be challenging at times.

3. Legal:

• Our startup has not yet been incorporated.
• The technology is currently unpatented.
• The product and chemicals have not yet been certified.

4. Cultural:

• Farmers are not accustomed to using technology in their work.
• There is concern that there will be rejection from the second-level supply chain (middle-men) who typically purchase chili peppers directly from farmers. Now they must purchase from HarvPort.

5. Market Barriers:

• It is difficult to approach farmers on a wide scale to use the technology offered by HarvPort as they typically prefer practicality and do not want to deal with technology. They often have the mindset that technology is difficult to use.
• Most people in Indonesia believe that fresh products that have been stored for a certain amount of time and using chemicals are not healthy, resulting in the products being unsold and spoiled.

• The Bandung Institute of Technology will facilitate our laboratory requirements. 
• The Board of Governors at the National Agency of Research and Innovation will mentor and assist our business. 
• Krevasi will act as a liaison partner to connect us with a wider range of partnerships.

The business model of HarvPort is a Storage House as a Service to help small farmers overcome product price fluctuations and extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. HarvPort is located in the supply chain, between the farmers and buyers. Farmers will hand over the chili pepper to HarvPort, and then postharvest processes such as washing, drying, sorting, grading, and storage in HarvPod will be carried out. Then, buyers (middlemen, wholesalers, individual consumers) can take the chili pepper from the HarvPort facility. For every process carried out by HarvPort, farmers are charged $0.02/kg/day of storage. With HarvPod storage, the average profit of farmers' sales increases by 116% per month. HarvPort is expected to have a payback period in the second year with 125 farmers linked. In the third year, HarvPort's revenue is expected to be $1,120,000 and a profit of $192,000. HarvPort's marketing plan consists of three elements: official website, social media, and direct socialization with farmers. However, we will focus more on socialization at the farmer level because they prefer a more human approach, where we go to the field, visit them, and talk to them directly.

HarvPort will charge farmers $0.02 per kilogram per day for storage. Using this rate, a 135-kilogram capacity would cost $81. By considering the production costs, we can estimate a profit of $5.75 in the first month. In subsequent months, the profit would be $75.9 as we would only need to refill the chemical and energy costs. By adding these calculations to the capital and operational expenses, we estimate that building a large facility would cost around $262,000 and generate revenue of $1,120,000. This results in an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 47%, a Net Present Value (NPV) of $185,000, and a payback period of 2 years. We are seeking an investment of $205,000 in exchange for 25% equity.

In the early years, we will focus on obtaining patents, incorporating the company, and obtaining product certification, which is estimated to cost between $3,200 and $6,400. We will also research and develop other types of fruit. We are offering a 5% stake in the company in exchange for an investment of $3,200 to $6,400. Note: we may also consider contracts with the government if opportunities arise.