Future of Work in India & Indonesia Challenge
Powering Livelihoods In Agri-Value Chain
One-line solution summary:
Virtual Cold Chain Assistant For Small Holder Farmers
Pitch your solution.
CoolCrop cools crops using renewable energy sources , especially the horticulture crops, as lack of cooling facilities farm gate cooling is the primary reason behind the estimated $2 Billion losses that affects fruits and vegetable sector of India. As the majority of the framers growing these crops are small and marginal we deliver our solutions in an easy pay as you go/subscription model to the farming communities and complement that with our marketing analytics application to enable farmers get more value per crop. Our open source virtual cold chain assistant further adds value by giving the farmers systems operating skills so that they can transform into efficient agribusiness owners.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Increase and leverage the participation of underserved communities in India and Indonesia — especially women, low-income, and remote groups — in the creation, development, and deployment of new technologies, jobs, and industriesIn what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Vadodara, Gujarat, IndiaIs your solution working in India and/or Indonesia?
My solution is being deployed or has plans to deploy in IndiaWhat specific problem are you solving in India and/or Indonesia?
We are addressing the post harvest losses that prevails in India across all agriculture crops but more specifically the highly perishable fruits and vegetables . Lack of affordable access to appropriate farm gate level technologies is the key reason for huge majority of the $2 Billion post harvest loss phenomenon that prevails in this sector. This figure has been estimated by several national an international agencies working in the Indian. agriculture space.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Reducing post harvest losses will lead to more quality produce and better income levels to the farmers
How does the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge?
Distributed Renewable Energy Powered Livelihoods is the key themes that many state governments are grappling with in India. Our solution addressees the triple problem of losses, livelihoods and climate change
In which Indian States and/or Union Territories is your solution operating?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
GrowthWho is the Team Lead for your solution?
Srinivas K Marella an experienced Energy Business Professional is leading this efforts . He is the COO of the CoolCrop
If you have additional video content that explains your solution, upload it here (e.g., demo video, promotional video):
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new business model or process that relies on technology to be successfulWhat makes your solution innovative?
Our solution is innovative because we address the the three major challenges that affect most small holder farmers in India regardless of crop, namely inability to aggregate into a collective , inability to to access post harvest technologies at farm gate affordably and inability to take informed decisions based on market prices. Our partnerships ensure that we delivery our solutions by adopting an integrated ecosystem approach
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
Our technology comprises of distributed cold storages powered by renewable energy , mostly solar & other local sources like biomass etc. Our digital technology intervention comprises an mobile application which we are co developing with BASE & EMPA as an open source tool called Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant
Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant: India | BASE (energy-base.org)
"YOUR VCCA APP WILL ALLOW
FARMERS TO MONITOR THE
QUALITY OF THEIR CROPS IN
REAL-TIME AND PROVIDE ACCESS
TO TAILORED MARKET
INTELLIGENCE TO MAXIMISE
THEIR NET PROFIT, WHILE LEVERAGING
THE EXTENDED SHELF
LIFE ENABLED BY COOLING"https://energy-base.org/projec...
Please select all the technologies currently used in your solution:
What is your theory of change?
Select the key characteristics of your target population.
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
Improve Income levels of beneficiary farmers by 40% by creating and sharing value at farm gate using our distributed energy services & technologies
Reduce post harvest losses by 30% at farmgate and contribute to the local Sustainable Development G & Climate Change mitigation Goals
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
In our ongoing Apple & Potato value chain projects we are precisely mapping the social impact above goals and are putting in place a robust impact management process in place to track our technology interventions' impact over the next 2 years as part of our project deliverables & mandate
What barriers currently exist for you to accomplish your goals in the next year and in the next five years?
The agriculture supply chains have been badly impacted due to the Pandemic which refuses to fade away despite that we have had considerable traction to implement our solutions to benefit the apple & potato farmers. The work mis in progress and hope to address the key pain points that affects all the framing communities viz aggregation, affordability and market knowledge
How do you plan to overcome these barriers?
Our unique Cooling As A Service Business model and our ongoing collaborative work on Your Virtual Cold Chain Assistant gives us the confidence and the learning opportunity to refine, fine tune and develop and scale our solutions across the diverse agroclimatic geographies of India and alter across South/South East Asia
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
We are team with a unique mix of technology ,energy business and renewable energy modelling and analytics experience.
Kendall is an alumni if MIT (Masters & PHD )and has worked extensively to develop appropriate technologies for agri value chains in India
Niraj is Graduate of TU, Berlin with project engineering expertise
While Srinivas, the team lead for this project is Energy Business professional and a graduate of GE Energy's Global Experienced Commercial Leadership program , has worked extensively in India and led several global initiatives
How long have you been working on your solution?
For the last 4.5 years
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Our team is a good blend of technology , academics and business experience with a proven track record to deploy solutions at scale.
Our ongoing partnerships and collaborative projects with several global organizations like GIZ, Germany , BASE, Switzerland(a UNEP funded Nor for profit) and Empa Switzerland( a Swiss Federal Govt Technology Institute) has further given us the confidence to work on our mission goals & objectives
What is your approach to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive leadership team?
Currently we have two women team members and the core team also comes with diverse background and language skills with the ability to communicate(read ,write and speak) in almost 80% of the languages widely spoken in India. As the primary end user beneficiaries are small holder farmers this further gives us a unique positioning strength. Going forward we are working on an initiative that aims to power livelihoods of Women Framers exclusively ,so as to develop women led micro agri-business enterprises
What organizations do you currently partner with, if any? How are you working with them?
What is your operational model?
Who is the primary stakeholder you will be targeting to execute and scale your solution?
Not-for-profit or Community-Based organizationsWhy are you applying to the Future of Work in India and Indonesia Challenge?
Developing digital skill sets and enabling affordable access to renewable energy powered livelihood will be the key to transform the agriculture landscape in India , which provides employment to nearly 60% of the population directly and indirectly. Creating value at farmgate lies at the core of improving income levels of the farmers
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Please explain in more detail here.
We believe accessing global best practices, structures and frameworks across disciplines is crucial to address any systemic challenge like the post harvest loss phenomenon we are addressing in India.
Solution Team
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Mr. Niraj Marathe CEO, Coolcrop Technologies Private Limited
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Mr Srinivas Kumar Marella COO, Head Market Development Strategy & Partnerships, Coolcrop Technologies Pvt Ltd
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KN
Dr. Kendall Nowocin CTO, CoolCrop
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Our Solution
Powering Livelihoods In Agri-Value Chain