Tropic & Farm
- Gabon
- Hybrid of for-profit and nonprofit
The Congo Basin is confronted with the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture, which devastates thousands of hectares of forest every year, pollutes the air and creates the phenomenon of hidden hunger, as a result of the loss of trees producing edible non-timber products on the outskirts of villages.
11% of the population of each country in this region suffers from hidden hunger
We provide an alternative solution to slash-and-burn agriculture, namely agroforestry in savannah areas, growing both cassava and native edible and medicinal trees.
This solution avoids the destruction of forests, allows the sedentarization of species useful for food and human health, slows climate change and enhances the value of local products.
This solution also makes available and affordable bio-fortified organic products and cassava flour, which is used in bread-making and is becoming the main alternative to the flour shortage problem in Africa following the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Local farmers are motivated to participate in popularizing the practice of agroforestry, as it offers many economic and environmental advantages.
The availability and affordability of bio-fortified organic produce is bringing relief to households in terms of moderate prices and nutritional and health benefits,
Our solution targets the entire indigenous population of the Congo Basin, including women, children and the elderly.
yes we have checked the negative impacts, we know for example that the fat contained in the fine of irvinga gabonesis is not good for diabetic people, we ask diabetic consumers to avoid consuming products made from it. of Irvinga gabonesis.
Our team is made up of members of the indigenous community, all of whom are fully conversant with the traditional uses, flavors and techniques of collecting, conserving and transporting non-timber forest products.
They are also specialized in agricultural techniques, land restoration techniques, non-timber forest product valorization techniques, value chain management, supply chain management, phytochemistry, plant and food biotechnology and sales force.
- Enable a low-carbon and nutritious global food system, across large and small-scale producers plus supply chains that reduce food loss.
- 1. No Poverty
- 2. Zero Hunger
- 3. Good Health and Well-Being
- 5. Gender Equality
- 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
- 10. Reduced Inequalities
- 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
- 12. Responsible Consumption and Production
- 13. Climate Action
- 15. Life on Land
- 17. Partnerships for the Goals
- Pilot
We are developing cassava plantations of the 80/34 variety which are used in the manufacture of flour and planting native trees which are done by species.
To set up the iboga plantation we collect the seeds in the primary forest to make nurseries before planting.
As for the afogba spp, the coula édulis and the irvinga gabonessis, we collect young plants in primary forests where we take the elephant droppings which we deposit in our nurseries to recover the plants after a few months. Our nurseries are often located in forests to allow trees to germinate in natural conditions.
Then we transfer the young plants to the sites which house our plantations and generally we carry out the tree plantations in areas where there are already groves (natural forests in savannah zones)
We are actively seeking transformational funding to roll out our innovation on a large scale.
- Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
- Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
- Product / Service Distribution (e.g. delivery, logistics, expanding client base)
Our solution is new and innovative in the sense that it brings several economic and environmental advantages; it allows populations to have a varied diet rich in essential vitamins and mineral salts because the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture pollutes nature and causes loss of biodiversity which in turn leads to the scarcity of non-wood products useful to humans to strengthen immune systems, reduce vulnerability to infections, reduce rates of cessity, anemia, problems with the development of pregnancies and growth disorders in children.
Our solution has a multi-dimensional impact on both forests and humans and our biofortification of products is different from that which consists of fortifying basic foods by mixing them with other enriched basic foods, our method consists of fortifying cassava with flours from edible wild seeds to make foufou or bio-fortified gari.
Our project will impact at least 60 million people in terms of product consumption and 50,000 people in terms of financial empowerment thanks to our reforestation, collection, crushing and transport activities.
This solution is very appreciated by local farmers because it improves production and facilitates agricultural practice because it exempts them from arduous work such as felling large trees.
Our project will impact at least 60 million people in terms of product consumption and 50,000 people in terms of financial empowerment thanks to our reforestation, collection, crushing and transport activities.
We plan to produce 100 thousand tons of flour per year, 100 thousand tons of bio-fortified foods and 60 thousand tons of food supplements.
We plan to sequester 10 megatons of CO2 within 5 years
We use technology at several levels, namely
Agroforestry, which consists of planting trees in strategic locations on farms to compensate for the loss of carbon due to the cutting of trees intended for agriculture.
Biofortification which is a process which makes it possible to obtain crops with increased nutritional value. The goal of biofortification is to grow nutritious plants, a process that experts say is much less expensive than adding micronutrients to already processed foods.
Phytopharmacy is the science concerned with the design, mode of action, preparation and distribution of products used to treat plants.
And irrigation technologies, planting by drones, etc.
- A new application of an existing technology
- Ancestral Technology & Practices
- Biotechnology / Bioengineering
- GIS and Geospatial Technology
- Gabon
7 full-time people, 20 temporary
a specialist in agronomy and forest management
a specialist in land restoration techniques, in techniques for valorizing non-wood forest products, a specialist in plant and food biotechnology, a specialist in value and supply chain management
a salesman and two technicians specializing in nursery maintenance.
We operated as a pilot project for 3 years and we planted cassava and native trees and we registered our company in October 2023 which means that we have existed for 4 years
We apply the gender policy, our internal regulations prohibit any type of inequality, harassment and protect women, minorities and the disabled.
We use the business model canvas which was the subject of our training at the PNPE GABON incubator
We plant cassava associated with indigenous edible or medicinal trees such as irvinga gabonesis, coula edulis, afopga spp and iboga to make flour which is used to make bread, bio-fortified foods (gari, foufou), food supplements and phytopharmaceutical products.
Our customers are children, pregnant women and the elderly who need our products to fight hidden hunger, malnutrition and anemia.
- Individual consumers or stakeholders (B2C)
We plan to expand our plantations, build a processing factory with a biotechnology laboratory to increase our production, achieve product standardization and certification, participate in the carbon credit market, practice ecotourism and produce honey. highly curative based on our iboga plantations.
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Founder