Insight Supply Chain Solution (InsightSCS), our logistics start-up, received a funding boost for improvements and expansion of our platform, the DeliverE.
In December 15 November 2020, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated a P 20 17.42 million grant to DeliverE, a Filipinoan end-to-end agricultural platform developed by our Filipino start-up company, InsightSCS.
Patrick Wesner, USAID Acting Mission Director, in a webinar said this move hopes to help and expand DeliverE’s efforts in improving farmers’ livelihoods and to prepare Filipino farmers for the world post-Covid-19, where continuity of businesses would largely be digital-driven.
A farm-to-buyer digital platform born out of the need to solve the devastating effects of the quarantine on the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen, Wesner believes that DeliverE will not only address the disconnected supply chain of agricultural produce, but also improve the food security and economic activity of the Philippines.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented effect on the lives of every Filipino. In the countryside, farmers and fishermen struggle to transport and sell their fresh products to key markets due to the quarantine,” Wesner added.
Powered by blockchain technology, DeliverE enables an end-to-end market based-system which connects all vital stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain, wherein each stakeholder can use the platform’s integrated ecommerce and logistics services to simplify their agricultural processes. Making the system of linking farmers directly to consumers and buyers more seamless and inter-connected, from consolidation points to warehouse facilities, all the way up to last-mile delivery to end-consumers.
“Through this platform, farmers have doubled their income and their post harvest losses have declined from about 50 percent to only about five percent,” Wesner said.
From DeliverE’s pilot-stage in April 2020 up to December 2020, the platform was able to move over 260 tons of fresh produce worth approximately P7.2 million, while helping over 600 farmers in Luzon and some Mindanao provinces, to sell their products to more than 32,000 customers in Metro Manila.
InsightSCS, together with the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Food Terminals, Inc., Office of Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, Agri-cooperatives, private partners, and supported by USAID, signed a pledge to formally launch DeliverE and to commit their support to continually develop the access of farmers to key markets.
This initiative was introduced and launched to the public by DTI and DA last December 14, 2020, and is part of USAID’s 900-million grant to the Philippines to boost trade and investment, particularly for MSMEs.