A GLOBAL PROBLEM
By the latest estimates, more than 30% of all food produced in the world is never eaten, meanwhile close to a billion people are starving or malnourished. It seems like a total paradox, but the sharp increase of the production of food in the last 30 years has done nothing to improve the situation.
Another unexpected fact is that not only developing countries are affected by hunger, many people in the West are also suffering. For example, in 2016 more than a million people in the United Kingdom accessed a food bank and in the United States an estimate of 40 million people remain in food poverty.
THE REASONS BEHIND THE PROBLEM
So what is the reason for all this? Unfortunately there are many, and they are hard to pin down. The most prominent factors are improper storage methods and overestimated demand by the food corporations, overestimated guests by restaurants and food repositories and, of course, the environmental conditions of a given area.
It is downright alarming that we produce so much food, but almost a third of it ends up in the garbage as opposed to where it is most needed. We have evolved immensely as a species due to technology and collaboration, but this problem is something we are yet to tackle.
THE INTRODUCTION OF BLOCKCHAIN
In my opinion the invention of blockhain might become the turning point of the 21st century, so we should try to apply this new technology to all the global problems we face, and there isn't a more relevant problem today than global hunger. After all, changing consumer behavior is going to be practically impossible and altering the food policy has proved unsuccessful so far. Meanwhile, the food-tech space has been on fire in the recent years.
When I did my research on this topic I stumbled upon Delicia, a food network that aims to help deliver good quality food to people in different locations and let food providers meaningfully reduce food waste. Delicia's goal is to align food supply and demand as closely as possible.
THE IN-S AND OUT-S OF DELICIA
Delicia works through a web portal and an iOS or Android app to connect food buyers and sellers with convenience and security provided by blockchain. Sellers, mainly restaurants, supermarkets and grocery stores, are able to list all their stock, surplus or close to expiry products they are in possession of.
A complex AI developed by Delicia will match the sellers and the buyers according to their preferences, geolocation and search patterns. It is possible to enable push notifications whenever a listing that matches your needs appears on the network.
All the transactions on the Delicia platform are made through DFT (Delicia Food Tokens), that help to avoid the long and inconvenient payment process with credit cards or fiat currency. With only a small fee for the sellers, compared to traditional routes, the payments will be quick and transparent. The decentralized ledger keeps track of all the dealings between parties and lets them have a check up on anything at any time.
This way a lot of unspoiled food will get purchased at better rates and consumed instead of being thrown away, as it is currently done. Delicia also aims to better the situation by creating a platform where sellers and buyers can rate each other, communicate between each other and analyze the reports based on their transactions. All this will help nurture a community that values collaboration in reducing food waste, as it will lead to mutual benefit.
ADVANTAGES OVER THE CURRENT MARKETPLACES
The system that Delicia is developing has many advantages over the ones currently in place, such as:
- The food industry becomes a lot more transparent to bring awareness to consumers and food sellers.
- All the participants become more interested in the food quality and convenience as they get more options.
- Blockchain helps track all the food listed in the system in real time, eliminating the accidental waste.
- DFT tokens ease the transactions between parties.
- The potential of deceit and unlawful behavior is much lower due to the Ethereum blockchain's transparency.
The beta version of Delicia is set for release in United States and Europe in 2018 for approved sellers and buyers and will test a lot of the core features of the platform. Shortly after that, in 2019 the full release is planned.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Delicia doesn't just have potential to help humanity in general, it is also looking to become a very successful business venture. That is why I suggest you keep track of the progress and the token sale that will commence shortly.
What other solutions do you think there are for global food waste? How often have you seen local places dispose of products? Do you think a platform like Delicia is doomed for success? Give your opinions in the comment below.
Author's bitcointalk: OceanWind33