Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. has entered the cold storage business with the launch of Fresh Depot which seeks to become the first ever physical and digital solutions platform for farmers in the country.
The company said the first phase of the project involves piloting a modular and sustainable cold storage unit in Mankayan, Benguet to help farmers reduce their post-harvest losses and maximize crop yield.
“Fresh Depot aims to transform the lives of our farmers by offering a platform that optimizes their yield and income while reducing waste, making a significant contribution to our country’s food security… Uplifting the agricultural sector and our farmers is crucial to strengthening our food supply chain and reducing our reliance on imports. We see various opportunities to make an impact in this sector and this is just one of the many projects we’re working on,” said Sabin Aboitiz, Aboitiz Group president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
For the cold storage technology, Aboitiz will partner with Ecozen Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which is backed by Nuveen global impact fund USA and EXIM Bank of Government of India.
The company will use Ecozen’s manufactured modular hybrid cold storage unit designed with climate-smart deep technology to harness solar energy to power the unit and equipped with a proprietary technology for battery-less back-up, which after pre-cooling will keep the fresh produce market-ready 24/7.
Apart from offering modular cold storage, Fresh Depot will also pursue digitizing farmers’ land, planting practices, pre-harvest, harvest and market information to offer advisory services, explore market linkage opportunities and financial inclusion programs, as well as build a database of information that the government can utilize for its programs.
The company said the pilot digitization effort will initially run for three to six months and will become a case study in hopes to scale up across other farm locations in the Philippines if proven viable.
The Aboitiz Group said it will tap Cropin Technology Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which is backed by Impact Assets Singapore for its farm monitoring and management and an easy-to-use, seamless communication solution connecting farmers, agri-businesses and field officers in digitizing farm activities.
