Description
: Proposal
Since Bangladesh has entered into Covid 19 community transmission stage, challenges waiting ahead are not limited to the medical sector only. Everyday we see newsportals reporting “farmers not getting enough price” or “vegetables are getting rotten”. At the same time the scarcity of foods in the city area is increasing as well as the price of the goods. The problem is clearly a stable supply chain system. It is very evident that the supply chain system has collapsed and if we can’t fix it now, we are going to suffer enormously. If the current situation gets worse, we may face the greatest famine we have ever seen. At the same time, if we can’t collect the foods from the farmers, they will face a huge financial crisis. As a result, they will not be able to cultivate in the next season. To mitigate this situation, government involvement is a must now. To solve this complex problem we are facing right now, a tech based solution can be designed which we believe may save us.
Workflow:
The proposed solution have been divided in four main parts. The working strategy is given below-
Access to food
1. UNOs, Food Officers, and Agriculture Officers from every upazilas will form a task force to buy food products (rice, pulse, wheats, vegetables etc) from the farmers with reasonable fixed prices
2. The food will be stored in local storages
3. The task force will fill up a form in our solution server demonstrating the stored foods from that region
4. Our algorithm will project the inter-district supply chain system maintaining the lowest possible cost and effort for dealers.
5. The total process will be at first a pilot project for 4 districts in 4 divisions. Based on the result, we will spread throughout the country as soon as possible.
Supply
1. The authority consisting of higher officials from the bureaucracy will monitor the demand and supply chain of food products in different parts of the country via the algorithm developed
2. Corruption can be avoided very easily as the monitoring authority will be vigilant 24/7 through the developed solution server
3. Our algorithm will forecast the amount of food per district demands
4. The authority will allocate a necessary amount of food per district following the demand
5. The products will be transported by the help of both Government (BRTC) and Private corporations
6. The transportation of the goods will be ensured by respective government authority and will move freely throughout the country in this time of lockdown
Server and App:
1. The online order facility will be available in the district towns mainly maintained by TCB/Food authority/Responsible vendor Organizations
2. One common online order application will be made and it will be open for small entrepreneurs so that they can supply foods online in the local areas. Otherwise, people will be out to buy foods from the market in the jela Sadar areas as most organizations don’t have online delivery options outside Dhaka
3. All the activities, including supply and demand, will be monitored from the back-end
4. Only a few authorized persons will have access to handle the server as it is there with a goal to prevent corruption
5. Issues can be lodged by respective officers if they face supply chain problems through the system
Distribution:
1. The price of the goods will be fixed by the authority which the private organizations will have to maintain if they become a vendor
2. Vendor organizations will distribute products that are ordered by people via the app.
3. An application will be made for district based local vendors so that they can continue their online food delivery system
4. The application charge will be imposed on those local vendors
5. The food will also be supplied offline. Local governments will be involved in this process. TCB and others, who have already been working distributing products, will also distribute these food products for the lower and lower middle class portion of the society.
The distribution zones will be selected upon the demand in that area.
6. The demand and supply will be controlled by decisions taken by statistical analysis (provided by our algorithm) so no area gets deprived of their necessary products
Technical Block Diagram
The diagram can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sMqhREGqvU8EcYlNHCSS5SV5kZNgRx5h/view
Outcome:
1. No food crisis will arise during this tough period also this solution will prevent upcoming ‘famine’
2. No food product will be wasted due to dealer interest or for the lack of transportation facilities
3. Poor farmers will get the appropriate price and be able to survive this disaster and also will be motivated and be able to continue cultivating food for the people of our country
We can avoid importing food from abroad
4. Agriculture officers will have sessions with the farmers to ensure highest possible cultivation in the next season
5. By this solution it is possible to control price fluctuations and market prices
6. A well established supply demand chain will be ensured for the future
7. If it is possible to maintain this supply chain system there will be no room for corruption
Byproducts
1. Since the task force will be purchasing directly from the farmers, it will be easy to enlist the farmers in the next season following other steps thoroughly
2. The enlisting will ensure the farmers getting a bank loan for the next quarter according to their need
3. Since the agriculture officer will be involved, it will be a good opportunity to bring the farmers under minimum technology which will increase their production capacity
4. The government will be able to detect the “Khash lands” and distribute those lands to the farmers for farming purposes which will bring more production
