This QR code lets you trace where your banana came from

Ever wondered how the curvy yellow banana reached your fruit basket from the farm? The answer could be just a QR code scan away.

Happy Banana, the fruit brand of Desai Fruit Ventures, has started to deploy Farm Trace, a QR Code solution that helps consumers trace the journey of the farm product back to the farmer.

“By simply scanning the QR Code on the banana, a consumer can now get to know where it was grown, what was the name of the farmer, the ripening techniques deployed before it reached the retail shelves,” Marco Klinge, Chief Executive Officer of Desai Fruit Ventures told DH.

Klinge said the QR code solution could help the consumer differentiate the premium fruit from other suppliers and assure them of the quality of the product.

The Farm Trace stickers on the fruit do not require any specialised app to be downloaded and can be scanned using any scanning app using a smartphone camera.

Klinge said consumers were now more keen on knowing the quality and the purity of the fruits and vegetables consumed by them, particularly because of some techniques deployed to hasten the ripening.

He said using Farm Trace, consumers can be reassured on the quality of the product by gaining access to the entire cultivation journey.

Klinge said the QR code solution would soon be extended to other products such as pineapple and rice.

The Farm Trace solution involves reaching out to farmers and suppliers of fruits and encouraging them to use management information systems to map the farm produce.

The company helps enroll small farmers and farmer producer organisations adapt to newer technologies to help provide traceability features for their produce.

So far, 3,000 farmers have marked their presence on the Farm Trace map and there are plans to take the number of 10,000 by next year.