By 2050, the world population is expected to grow by a third which means an addition of 2.3 billion people will need to be fed, presenting a major challenge to the food and agricultural industry. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) predicts that most of this growth will happen in developing nations. Demand for food will continue to grow and the need to deploy technology to improve yield, quality, efficiency and effectiveness of agricultural processes is imperative. Mobile technologies – growing at a faster pace in developing nations than in developed ones has the capability to create impact across value chain from demand sensing, yield management, processing and all the way to distribution into Retail.

I had the opportunity to attend the Grocery Manufacturing Association (GMA) CEO Forum in July in Washington DC and it was great to see the dedication of senior leaders in the industry towards issues like Sustainability, GMO, Food Safety as well as focus on newer technologies like Big Data, Social and Mobility. Given that fluctuations in consumption patterns, climate, demand and commodity prices will always exist, mobile devices have become a means to deliver real time information and manage risk from harvesting to logistics. Helplines and information platforms also help deliver relevant information to the farmers.

Many of the large Agri giants like Cargill and Archer Daniel Midland (ADM) run their own transportation network and mobile technologies make it easier to acquire information from large number of sources and respond to it quickly. A classic use case is Fieldforce Automation where agents can collect information on their smart phones while visiting farmers and transmit it to the offices. Mobile management of supplier and distribution networks also leads to improved data visibility resulting in an optimized supply chain across the value chain. Increased efficiencies and productivity from use of mobile will increase agriculture income and also lead to fewer food losses which in turn will help meet the world’s demand for adequate and nutritious food.

Do you think mobile technologies will play an important role in driving efficiency and sustainability across the food value chain? Let me know your thoughts.

Hiral Chandrana- Sr. Vice President & Global Head For Business Application Services, Wipro, Ltd.

Hiral is Sr. Vice President & Global Head for Business Application Services (BAS) in Wipro with end-to-end responsibility for the Applications related strategy, development, implementation and management. BAS is Wipro’s largest Service Line and the portfolio includes following areas across all business units:

• Enterprise and Cloud Applications: SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, IBM and Microsoft
• Differentiated Offerings: Enterprise and Cyber Security, Enterprise and Solution Architecture
• Omni-Channel & Mobile Commerce: Customer Experience, eContent Mgt, and Collaboration
• Technology Practices: Testing, Business Process Management and Enterprise Integration

Hiral has extensive experience in P&L management, leading Global Teams and Delivery, Executive Relationships, Large Complex Pursuits, and growing Applications, Infrastructure, Analytics, BPO, PLM businesses in Retail, Manufacturing, Consumer Goods and Life Sciences. He is an active member at leading forums including CGT, GMA & developed partnerships with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, CISCO, etc.

Prior to the current role, Hiral was VP & Global Business Head for Consumer Industries in Wipro with end-to-end P&L responsibility including Delivery, Sales, & Solutions. He also played leadership roles as US Head for Retail, Consumer Goods, & Transportation and Americas Head for Business Technology Services at Wipro where he won multiple awards. Before Wipro, he had progressive client/program management roles with Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Parametric Technology Corp. and Tata Motors.

Hiral is based in the US for the last 21+ years managing long term strategic customer relationships with global organizations, driving transformation initiatives and leading large teams. He has published various thought leadership papers and articles through his career. Hiral has an Engineering background, with a Master of Science (MS) from Washington State University and Executive MBA from Iowa State University.