Where we are, What are the Loopholes
With a paradigm shift of investors, growers and the market place towards sophisticated technological tools in a commitment to foster productivity, quality, speed up operations, cut on costs, real time updates and access ; Regulators should adopt an up to date and competitive systems in place if 25% annual growth was to be realized within the industry.
The Kenyan government through the ministry of agriculture and ministry of foreign affairs and international trade, with the help of governmental and member based self regulatory organizations in place which are KEPHIS and KFC respectively have achieved enormous milestones when it comes to phyto-sanitary standards both locally and internationally. Through continuous self assessment, the two regulatory bodies continue to conform to the upcoming trends and gaining recognition in the international market.
Despite these notable achievements and growth within the industry, the question still lingers: Can you imagine the gain, IF the data captured and accumulated by the two regulatory bodies could be made visible and available right from the grower (farm) to the consumer (market) in real time updates?
This will spur an interesting debate; but in a nutshell, we all have experienced at one point or the other the benefits of being able to access credible, correct and complete information instantly; whether on certification, compliance and information on pest free assurance; this information has contributed immensely to positive decisions from consumers, promotion of the country’s brand and increase in trade: Sadly, a lot of stones are yet to be turned so as to unearth the real potential of information visibility and traceability to as a certain phyto-sanitary assurance and certification to our target markets.
There is no doubt of our high scoring record as an industry when it comes to inspection, compliance, auditing programs and production of quality plants; but yet still we encounter an alarming decline of plants at the dispatch point, because of lack of either credible documents or maybe late documentation due to system traffic, non-compliance and incompetent pest management systems at the farm. Growers and the industry have succumbed to enormous losses due to these system and technical issues.
What Is the Solution?
Quality management, quality production and compliance to phytosanitary standards nowadays is not enough, even with a strong tool that conforms to GLOBALG.A.P, there still lies a giant that needs to be adequately awaken and utilized. To effectively execute this strategy, it is about time to allow companies and systems to talk to each other. If we are going to manage all this data on a global scale, keep it up to date and save time and resources in the process, we need intelligent people with capable systems who work together to ensure that we are all operating in the most efficient and profitable way possible.
According to Dobbs, Manyika & Woetzel in their book “No ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking all the Trends”. Processing power and connectivity to the internet are sweeping the all world; their impact is multiplied by enormous revolution of data, which places unprecedented amounts of information into the hands of consumers and business alike; this has been made possible through proliferation of technology-based business models.
When companies and systems work together in a language they understand, to foster capturing, accumulation, monitoring and visibility of data then the 25% annual growth will be realized once the markets’ confidence are secured and the consumers are assured of quality products; through transparency envisaged in our data visibility and updates with the help of a stable and capable technological based platform.
Way to Assurance
Muddy boots software is a company which has demonstrated competitive experience when it comes to development of tailor made systems in management of flower and horticulture sector over the last 20 years. We have diversified and reinvented more often to suit the ever changing technological world and match up with the market needs to enhance information visibility and transparency from the grower to the retailer.
Contributions of regulators keeps our brand breathing and thriving but to compliment inspection and compliance activities done by regulatory bodies, muddy boots takes a notch higher to ensure the systems built, record inspection information, provided escalation to this information (making it visible and accessible in real time updates), notification on any updates and recommendation for a corrective action.
Muddy boots’ phyto-sanitary systems provide businesses total confidence that every product from every consignment comes from a validated source that meets their customers’ protocol. With all supplier information held in one centralized and secure location, our customers have instant access and complete visibility of the approval status of both products and suppliers.
The integration with GLOBALG.A.P makes this process even easier. Now, our phyto-sanitary assurance systems can synchronize certificate and grower information from the GLOBALG.A.P database, driven by a unique number. This saves a significant time by reducing the manually upload and monitor GLOBALG.AP certificates.
What are the Benefits
Greater transparency- It provides capabilities to exhibit total transparency of the approval status of your sites, suppliers and products so as to mitigate risks from your supply chain.
Connect with suppliers- The system enables you to connect with suppliers online for you to manage, share and validate all information relating to the approval status of your supply chain. Suppliers and customers can access the system and update information from any location.
Reduce costs and increase efficiency-Through holding of supporting evidence for approval in one place; you will significantly reduce the time spent on managing this process. The automatic alerts tell you when an action is required, so you no longer need to continuously monitor your data as the mobile apps allows auditors to work both on and offline, so as they can capture data in the field; avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort and speeding up operational processes.
Total confidence- The system maps your supply chains from grower to your customer and provided confidence to the market that all products are from an approved source.
Monitor and measure performance-The system allows collection and access of large volumes of data from across your supply chain using single cloud –based platform. Remove papers, subjectivity and duplicity from the audit, visit and assessment process. Visual reports allow you to identify issues and spot trends immediately.
Technological revolution is unavoidable, with 5th industrial revolution in the offing, its occurrence will sweep the world, everyone will be in possession of the latest technological innovation as it is even witnessed today; the need and hunger for technological based operations, products and services (offered on technological platforms). There is need to automate operations and processes to compete well and assure the market through sharing of data. Visit our website to interact with our phyto-sanitary systems in place so as to scale up your operations, reduce waste and enhance your visibility throughout the supply chain.