TRAnsforming Cold Food Chains in INdia through Space ScIence and TechNologies - TRANSSITioN

联合国17个可持续发展目标(SDGs)旨在动员全球努力“改变我们的世界”(联合国，2017年)，以应对全球社会面临的重大挑战，如实现所有人的粮食安全和营养(SDG 1、2、3、8和12)。我们将把重点放在印度，农业对国内生产总值的贡献率超过17.5%，雇佣了2.5亿人，仍然是印度农村人口的中坚力量，农村人口占印度13亿人口的近67%。然而，印度的大多数农民仍然生活在贫困之中。印度只有4%的食品通过冷链运输，而英国的这一比例为70%，导致农场和市场之间高达40%的浪费，特别是新鲜水果和蔬菜。这减少了农民的收入，进而限制了他们的投资能力和种植更有营养食品的动力。虽然冷链基础设施不足导致新鲜农产品大量浪费，但价值创造不足以及气候变化对农业生产力和粮食损失的影响已导致越来越多的农民自杀。此外，印度拥有全球最多的有机农民，但这些农民生产该国大部分高价值和高营养的食品，几乎无法获得整合的冷链。印度农民根本没有财力投资于精准农业和冷链基础设施发展。按照莫迪总理提出的“到2022年农民收入翻一番”的目标，印度需要更有力的技术干预，以及创新的商业模式和有效的政策，使农民的收入翻一番，并使供应链中每个利益相关者的价值最大化。TRANSSITioN项目将使用粮食系统方法来确定相关的STFC和本土技术，以实现小规模农业生产的数字化，将农民与供应链连接起来，减少粮食损失和管理粮食过剩。我们还将确定支持这种技术干预的相关商业和供应链融资模式，以及如何让冷食物链中的不同行为者参与直接和间接影响发展成果。我们将在印度创建“可持续冷食物链孵化中心”(TRANSSITioN Hub)，其基础是STFC在印度的开创性技术(热建模、遥感、无人机应用、红外热像)、ASTEC和Cryox的低温技术、STFC的数据科学能力(大数据分析、人工智能)和哈特里中心的IBM Research，以及来自供应链管理、商业可持续性、政治学、食品科学、农业与材料科学、国际研究和利益相关者合作的跨学科团队。WPS将应用于一套两个案例研究，从农场(有机和常规)到消费中心，与国内合作伙伴共同确定。海得拉巴和金奈地区已被确定为试点项目。作为亚马逊、Flipkart、Jubilant Foods、强生和宝洁等公司的所在地，该地区已成为以消费者为中心的食品物流中心。选定的地区拥有由50,000名有机农民、加工商、技术供应商和零售商组成的成熟网络，与我们研究议程的核心能力非常一致。不幸的是，2016年该地区的农民自杀人数也位居第二。因此，TRANSSITioN项目旨在打造一个可持续的框架，以满足不同利益相关者的不同经济、社会和商业优先事项，以通过价值最大化带来社会经济变革。

The United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to mobilise global efforts to 'transform our world' (UN, 2017) so as to address major challenges facing global society, such as achieving food security and nutrition for all (SDG 1, 2, 3, 8 &12). We will focus on India where agricultural sector which contributes more than 17.5% to its GDP, employs 250 million people and remains the backbone of India's rural population, which comprises almost 67% of the country's 1.3 billion population. Yet, most of India's farmers still remain under poverty. Merely 4% of India's food is moved through the cold chain compared to 70% in the UK, resulting in as much as 40% wastage, particularly in fresh fruits and vegetables, between farm and market. This reduces farmers' income, which in turn limits their capacity to invest and their incentive to grow more nutritious food. Whilst inadequate cold supply chain infrastructure results in large amount of wastage in fresh produce, inadequate value creation and the impact of climate change on agriculture productivity and food loss has led to increasing number of farmers suicide. Moreover, India has highest number of organic farmers globally but these farmers, who produce most of the country's high-value and high-nutrition foods, have little access to integrated cold chains. Indian farmers simply do not have financial resources to invest in precision agriculture and cold chain infrastructure development. With PM Modi's target of "doubling farmers' income by 2022", India necessitates a stronger case of technological intervention along with innovative business models and effective policies that double the income of farmers and maximise value for every stakeholder in the supply chain. The project TRANSSITioN will use a food systems approach to identify relevant STFC and indigenous technologies for digitising small-scale agriculture production, connecting farmers to supply chain, reducing food loss and managing food surplus. We will also identify relevant business and supply chain finance models supporting such technological interventions and ways in which different actors across the cold food chain could be engaged to directly and indirectly shape development outcomes. We will create "Sustainable Cold Food Chain Incubator Hub" (TRANSSITioN Hub) in India built on STFC ground breaking technologies from RAL Space (Thermal modelling, remote sensing, drone applications, Infrared Thermography), cryogenics from ASTeC and Cryox, data science capabilities (big data analytics, artifical intelligence) of STFC and IBM Research at Hartree Centre, along with interdisciplinary team from supply chain management, business sustainability, political science, food science, agriculture and material sciences, international research and stakeholder collaboration. The WPs will be applied to a set of two case studies starting from farms (organic and conventional) to consumption centre, co-identified with in-country partners. Hyderabad and Chennai region have been identified for the pilot project. Being host to companies such as such as Amazon, Flipkart, Jubilant Foods, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, this region has become a consumer centric food logistics hub. With an established network of 50,000 organic farmers, processors, technology providers and retailers the selected region strongly aligns with the core competencies of our research agenda. Unfortunately, this region also had the second highest number of farmers suicide in 2016. Project TRANSSITioN, therefore, aims to forge a sustainable framework to meet different economic, social and commercial priorities of varied stakeholders to usher socio-economic change through value maximisation.