Smart Farming methodology for efficient and sustainable cultivation of dragon fruit in Ecuador’s Amazon: Pilot evaluation of the impact of technology on poverty and inequality reduction

Summary

This initiative proposes the implementation of precision agriculture for the intelligent, efficient, and sustainable production of dragon fruit in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Palora canton as case study. The project is motivated by the great appeal of this fruit in international markets due to its numerous health and nutritional properties. The growing interest in dragon fruit is part of the national plan to promote the export of non-traditional agricultural products and thus eliminate the country’s dependence on oil exports. The national government has done a good job managing commercial agreements for the export of non-traditional products such as dragon fruit; however, very little has been done regarding the modernization of agricultural processes, which has made it difficult for many farmers, mainly small and medium ones, to export their production to markets such as Europe, North America, and Asia because they do not meet the quality, biosecurity, traceability, and sustainability requirements established by those markets. Therefore, this project proposes to develop a methodology for intelligent, efficient, and sustainable cultivation of dragon fruit in the Ecuadorian Amazon, employing precision agriculture techniques such as remote monitoring systems and computer vision. The goal is to implement this methodology in pilot farms to demonstrate how precision agriculture can help farmers use resources like  water and soil more efficiently, reduce the use of agrochemicals, plan the annual production based on data, ensure fruit quality, set fruit origin data, and apply sustainable cultivation techniques, which will contribute to measure the impact that the aforesaid metrics make on product quality enhancement and farmers overall quality of life. The project will also elaborate on strategies for the uptake of knowledge and a roadmap to scale up this initiative in further stages.

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