NIBAP

This project aims to establish a research and development group in the field of precision agriculture. The concern with food quality and safety is universal, becoming more prevalent once the basic needs of each population have been met. Therefore, it is understood that if the quantity factor (food supply) has been met, this causes the quality factor to become more relevant and the respective controls to become more rigorous. Food security can be considered in two ways. Security in order to ensure the food needed to feed a growing population and, security in the sense that these same foods can be consumed without causing harm to our health.

Agriculture has to meet these two fundamental requirements, that is, it has to feed, clothe and energize the world by providing the necessary, safe and quality agricultural products with the required diversity, amounts, and at affordable costs. The aim is to set up an R&D structure in co-promotion capable of identifying and responding to identified challenges, taking into account the needs of specific markets and the scientific and technological developments that have taken place in recent years in relevant areas, including: state control and maturation of horticultural products by non-invasive methods (limiting the costs of monitoring by farmers), use of technological equipment, namely drones, for the monitoring and characterization of agricultural plots, in order to facilitate the control and development of crops, establish strategies to monitor the products in the fruit and vegetable sector, in order to guarantee the quality of the product to the final consumer (by integrating data from the fields, parcels, distributors, maturation data, which the consumer can then access), among others. In this sense, a range of activities will be developed such as those related to the generation and dissemination of knowledge in fields that are complementary to the R&D group’s core theme, such as microbiology, biotechnology, biochemistry, physical modeling and programming.