CropLock is a social initiative that aims to reduce post-harvest crop losses among smallholder farmers from underserved communities. It works on a simple idea. Farmers know their crops are spoiling, but they are rarely told why it happens, and they almost never have access to the equipment that would otherwise prevent it. The project sets out to supply both.
Through this initiative, a survey will be conducted with smallholder farmers to establish how much they lose between harvest and sale, at which stage the losses occur, what they currently do to dry and store their produce, and whether they have heard of any affordable technology that might help. The findings will then be brought together in a white paper, combining what the farmers report with existing research on how moisture, temperature, pests, handling, and poor storage lead to crops deteriorating. The paper will also build a repository of low-cost solutions for drying, storage, cooling, and packaging, comparing each one on what it does, what it costs, and whether it suits a small farm.
A fundraising campaign will also be initiated to buy the equipment. Working with an NGO partner, the initiative will then distribute and install it on participating farms based on each community's actual needs. In this way, by combining research with practical equipment, CropLock hopes to help farmers gain knowledge and awareness and keep more of what they have already grown and the income that comes with it.