Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NESTLER (oNe hEalth SusTainabiLity partnership between EU-AFRICA for food sEcuRity)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2022-10-01 al 2024-03-31
Food security and adoption of One Health programme recommendation, relies on the effective design and implementation of advanced digital technologies. The recent developments in the field of big-data analytics, machine learning algorithms for generating intelligent insights, computer vision tools to identify different forms of pest and other scientific innovations are crucial in successfully securing the food supply chain.
Addressing these broad challenges, NESTLER project aims to deliver a technological intervention to support policy framework development between EU and Africa member states. The policy recommendations identified within the project lead to the realisation of One-Health sustainability partnership. At the heart of the project, the production of various food sources towards achieving food sustainability such as agriculture farming, livestock, and aquaculture production is considered. The key challenges faced by the relevant stakeholders from Africa representing six (6) member states accounting for at least eight (8) different types of food products (casava, banana, coffee, cowpea, soybean, yam, maize). A list of technological interventions are developed in the project to aid in the increased production quality of agriculture produce and livestock along with the creation of stable supply of farm feed will be carried out.
Addressing these broad challenges, NESTLER project aims to deliver a technological intervention to support policy framework development between EU and Africa member states. The policy recommendations identified within the project lead to the realisation of One-Health sustainability partnership. At the heart of the project, the production of various food sources towards achieving food sustainability such as agriculture farming, livestock, and aquaculture production is considered. The key challenges faced by the relevant stakeholders from Africa representing six (6) member states accounting for at least eight (8) different types of food products (casava, banana, coffee, cowpea, soybean, yam, maize). A list of technological interventions are developed in the project to aid in the increased production quality of agriculture produce and livestock along with the creation of stable supply of farm feed will be carried out.
The activities include :
1) Frass fertilizer for crop immunity. NESTLER has developed and validated techniques to utilize frass fertilizer for crop immunity against pest infestation. Moreover, insect frass fertilizer as a regenerative input for improved biological nitrogen fixation and sustainable bush bean production was demonstrated under open field conditions.
2) Livestock and fishery feed recipes. NESTLER has developed and validated more than 25 feed recipes that meet the nutrient requirement for poultry and fish under farmer field conditions. The impact of Black Soldier Fly insect (BSF) protein as a substitute for soybean meal and sunflower seed cake on layer chicken performance and profitability has been established, showing significantly higher egg production (on average more than 85%). Similar results apply also to African catfish/ Nile tilapia
3) IoT tools for crop, livestock and aquaculture monitoring.
- SynField: Synelixis has expanded the SynField product family to support more than 30 low-cost sensors (air, leaf, and soil characteristics). Already installed in all 6 African countries.
- SynAir: Synelixis has developed the SynAir to measure Ammonia (NH3), Particulate Matter (PM1.0 PM2.5 PM4, PM10), CO2, Temperature, Relative humidity. Already installed in Rwanda and Ethiopian pilots.
- SynWater: Synelixis has developed the SynWater system that monitors water Temperature, pH, Oxidation-Reduction-Potential (ORP), Dissolved-Oxygen (DO), Electrical-Conductivity (EC). Already being installed in Rwanda and Ethiopian pilots.
- Crop quality handheld: UCL has implemented a low-cost handheld that may evaluate in-situ crop quality of Casava.
5) Automated monitoring services for crop yield and livestock wellbeing. The NESTLER consortium has worked towards implementing mobile apps and ML algorithms towards automated monitoring services.
- Crop disease & pest identification. Agri and Synelixis have developed applications capable of aggregating information regarding cop conditions and identify specific crop diseases and pests, such as Armyworms, Corn bores, Aphids (Maize and cereal), Tuta Absoluta (Tomatoes), Beetles, aphids (Coffee) and Locusts (Various Crops).
- Poultry and Fishery wellbeing monitoring. RiniSoft has developed a system that is ample to validate the wellbeing and health conditions of poultry and fishery.
- Risk Assessment & Flood prediction. Based on weather data in Cameroon, AGRI has trained and tested flood prediction models using five different classification techniques .
6) Twelve (12) pilot sites in six (6) African countries have been establish.
1) Frass fertilizer for crop immunity. NESTLER has developed and validated techniques to utilize frass fertilizer for crop immunity against pest infestation. Moreover, insect frass fertilizer as a regenerative input for improved biological nitrogen fixation and sustainable bush bean production was demonstrated under open field conditions.
2) Livestock and fishery feed recipes. NESTLER has developed and validated more than 25 feed recipes that meet the nutrient requirement for poultry and fish under farmer field conditions. The impact of Black Soldier Fly insect (BSF) protein as a substitute for soybean meal and sunflower seed cake on layer chicken performance and profitability has been established, showing significantly higher egg production (on average more than 85%). Similar results apply also to African catfish/ Nile tilapia
3) IoT tools for crop, livestock and aquaculture monitoring.
- SynField: Synelixis has expanded the SynField product family to support more than 30 low-cost sensors (air, leaf, and soil characteristics). Already installed in all 6 African countries.
- SynAir: Synelixis has developed the SynAir to measure Ammonia (NH3), Particulate Matter (PM1.0 PM2.5 PM4, PM10), CO2, Temperature, Relative humidity. Already installed in Rwanda and Ethiopian pilots.
- SynWater: Synelixis has developed the SynWater system that monitors water Temperature, pH, Oxidation-Reduction-Potential (ORP), Dissolved-Oxygen (DO), Electrical-Conductivity (EC). Already being installed in Rwanda and Ethiopian pilots.
- Crop quality handheld: UCL has implemented a low-cost handheld that may evaluate in-situ crop quality of Casava.
5) Automated monitoring services for crop yield and livestock wellbeing. The NESTLER consortium has worked towards implementing mobile apps and ML algorithms towards automated monitoring services.
- Crop disease & pest identification. Agri and Synelixis have developed applications capable of aggregating information regarding cop conditions and identify specific crop diseases and pests, such as Armyworms, Corn bores, Aphids (Maize and cereal), Tuta Absoluta (Tomatoes), Beetles, aphids (Coffee) and Locusts (Various Crops).
- Poultry and Fishery wellbeing monitoring. RiniSoft has developed a system that is ample to validate the wellbeing and health conditions of poultry and fishery.
- Risk Assessment & Flood prediction. Based on weather data in Cameroon, AGRI has trained and tested flood prediction models using five different classification techniques .
6) Twelve (12) pilot sites in six (6) African countries have been establish.
Main results related to beyond the state of the art include:
1) Research conducted on the production and optimisation of insect protein leading to feed recipes for livestock and fish. Five (5) different species of Insects have been identified as a source of stable food, with the potential to replace livestock and fish consumption. Additionally, the project investigates the impact of insect protein as an organic fertilizer.
2) State of the art IoT systems, namely Synelixis SynField, measuring respectively micro-clima/weather parameters, leaf and soil conditions have been expanded and deployed, while new IoT systems, namely SynAir and SynWater measuring the air and the water quality have been designed and prototyped to cover the measuring needs in livestock and aquaculture pilots. Sensing systems capturing video and sound to monitor the health conditions and wellbeing of poultry have been developed. Additionally, the project has developed a pioneering low-cost handheld tool to accurately model the production quality of natural food supplies such as Casava.
3) Develop predictive algorithms for evaluating the impact of weather and climate models in agriculture.
4) Automated monitoring services for quality of crop yield. NESTLER has developed applications for aggregating information regarding cop conditions and identify 7 specific crop diseases.
5) Implementation and integration of data analytics tools and NESTLER visualisation dashboard.
1) Research conducted on the production and optimisation of insect protein leading to feed recipes for livestock and fish. Five (5) different species of Insects have been identified as a source of stable food, with the potential to replace livestock and fish consumption. Additionally, the project investigates the impact of insect protein as an organic fertilizer.
2) State of the art IoT systems, namely Synelixis SynField, measuring respectively micro-clima/weather parameters, leaf and soil conditions have been expanded and deployed, while new IoT systems, namely SynAir and SynWater measuring the air and the water quality have been designed and prototyped to cover the measuring needs in livestock and aquaculture pilots. Sensing systems capturing video and sound to monitor the health conditions and wellbeing of poultry have been developed. Additionally, the project has developed a pioneering low-cost handheld tool to accurately model the production quality of natural food supplies such as Casava.
3) Develop predictive algorithms for evaluating the impact of weather and climate models in agriculture.
4) Automated monitoring services for quality of crop yield. NESTLER has developed applications for aggregating information regarding cop conditions and identify 7 specific crop diseases.
5) Implementation and integration of data analytics tools and NESTLER visualisation dashboard.