|
Project Topic
|
GreenDriedFruits aims to develop, test, and implement the effectiveness of novel sustainable technologies that can contribute to increase the resilience and the sustainability of the durable commodity value chains. The proposal focuses on dried fruits (i.e., figs, dates, and currants) that represent main agricultural commodities in the Mediterranean basin area. They are highly appreciated by consumers both because of their sensory properties and nutritional characteristics and have a primary economic impact both in terms of local production and international trade. GreenDriedFruits aims at providing sustainable solutions for post-harvest pest control in dried fruit commodities that can be efficiently and easily adopted by the firms in substitution to pesticide use. In fact, in addition to the well-known negative environmental impact, pesticide use also has important drawbacks that limit the economic performances of the firms operating in the chain (e.g., impossibility to access the organic market, high food losses, increased health risks) and decrease product quality. Following a lab-to-market strategy, the project aims to develop, implement, and test highly efficient species-specific and commodity-specific post-harvest pest management solutions based on the application of extreme low or high temperatures (i.e., extreme cold or heat) to the stored fruit commodities. Research activities (from lab experiments to real-setting applications) will be geared at developing the highest insecticidal effectiveness meanwhile preserving the sensory and nutritional quality of dried fruits. The thermal treatments (TT) are expected to increase the sustainability and resilience of all firms operating in the dried fruit supply chain, including small producers and processors. To maximize the impact of the TT protocols a user-friendly Sensor-App system will be developed and tested to facilitate the adoption of the TT methods. Furthermore, demonstration facilities will be opened to the stakeholders to facilitate knowledge transfer for a successful shift towards pesticide-free production. Both the supply-side and demand-side economic analysis will be conducted. These will be respectively geared at identifying market opportunities fostering international trade, and at developing marketing strategies aimed at boosting the market of the dried fruits. The project addresses the scope/challenges of the call by developing pest management solutions that: - overcome the main inefficiencies of the current pest management methods; - allow firms to adopt and apply; TT in automated and highly controlled conditions to obtain optimal results; - can be extended to a variety of other durable commodities (including staple commodities). In a longer-term perspective this will represent a key line of resilience for firms due to the increased automation of the process, its sustainability, the reduction of food losses as well as of health risks; - allow firms to comply with EU policy strategies (especially SDG 12 and Farm to Fork Strategy), possibly opening new commercial channels, such as the key organic market. The ambition of GreenDriedFruits is to translate scientific evidence in concrete solutions for firms that can enable a transition towards a more sustainable pesticide-free implementation of the integrated pest management, as encouraged by the F2F strategy. GreenDriedFruits also aspires to become a pilot for further development and application of the TT technologies to a variety of other durable commodities. Important ones would be wheat, rice, maize, flour, pasta, legumes, etc. that are of enormous importance in terms of global food security. TT could be also applied to other high value durable commodities, such as herbs, nuts, tobacco etc. In a longer-term perspective, the propose TT protocols could be also extended to quarantine and pre-shipment pest control contexts.
|
