IDB Lab, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group’s innovation laboratory, approved over US$2 million funding to support a project that will allow local small and medium-scale aquaculture producers in Lake Titicaca (Peru) to incorporate the benefits of the Internet of Things (IoT) in trout farming.
The project will be carried out by Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Abaco, a Peruvian Credit Union, as a part of its focus on value chain financing.
One of today´s largest global challenges is how to supply enough protein to growing markets without causing further environmental stress and damage. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO ) estimates that fish production through aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean will grow from 2.7 million tons in 2016 to 4.0 million tons in 2030. In the case of Peru, this sector is expected to grow from 100,000 tons in 2016 to 221,000 tons in 2030, a 120.9% increment.
In order to improve aquaculture producers’ productivity and income, and at the same time maintain the environmental sustainability of aquaculture, this project will test a new technological solution, called “UMITRON CELL”. UMITRON CELL is a service that introduces and expands IoT/data-driven practices in aquaculture mitigating the risk of overfeeding, which in turn decreases the risk of water pollution.
“We are entering a new age for aquaculture, bringing new technologies such as IoT to increase farmers’ incomes as well as sustainability. We hope that initial project results will allow the UMITRON CELL solution to scale to other fish species and even beyond Peru to other Latin American countries” said Irene Arias, General Manager of IDB Lab.
The total financing for the project will consist of a US$550,000 grant and a US$1.5 million subordinated loan.
Original source: IADB
Published on 14 December 2018
