Smallholder farmers can keep pace with digitalization and go global

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the September-October 2018 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

September-October 2018

If it’s September, it must be time for Gartner’sTop 25 supply chains, the lead article in this issue of Supply Chain Management Review. As I was reading this year’s contribution from Gartner, I was struck by the number of the Top 25 that have launched NextGen Supply Chain initiatives, using Big Data, artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), machine learning and the like to digitize their supply chains. It made me wonder: Is the rest of the pack falling behind or are they ready to follow the leaders?

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As the digitalization of supply chains progresses, how can small, less technically-sophisticated enterprises leverage the technology? The challenge is especially apparent in the agricultural industry, where resource-poor, small-scale growers in emerging economies remain tied to traditional practices.

Yet without their participation, the digitalization of agricultural supply chains can’t reach its full potential. The Center for Latin America Logistics Innovation (CLI), a member of the MIT Global SCALE (Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence) Network, is leading an initiative in Colombia that offers one approach to the challenge.

In addition to helping smallholder farmers access world markets and improve their logistics skills, the project represents a first step in introducing these growers to more advanced supply chain and logistics practices.

Market connections

The CLI project is part of a broader pilot that also involves LOGYCA/ASOCIACIÓN, the representative in Colombia of GS1 standards. Initially eight countries were involved in the pilot, including Colombia, the only country from Latin America, but the pilot is now open to all countries.

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