Using data science to combat poverty

The mobile app YourVCCA, developed by Empa and BASE, aims to give smallholder farmers in rural India access to the cold chain market. Image: BASE - In January 2021, Empa and BASE (Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy) were among the winners of the prestigious Inclusive Growth and Recovery Challenge by data.org, a platform for partnerships committed to build the field of data science for social impact. In their project, the team is developing a mobile app that aims to give smallholder farmers in rural India advice on how to better store their fresh foods and when to sell them. Eight months into the project, the team has forged partnerships with cooling solution providers, collected open-source data for India, and developed digital food twins. India is one of the world's largest food producers. However, insufficient refrigeration possibilities and other bottlenecks in the supply chain result in a waste of up to a third of the food produced - an estimated billion-dollar loss. Only 6% of the food moves through the cold chain, compared to about 60% in developed countries.