Agricultural Supply Chain Using Blockchain

Abstract

A constant rise in population has led to exponential growth in the food requirements all over the world. Not only has the demand increased over time, but concerns regarding food quality and safety have also proliferated. Many cases of food contamination like the Sudan Red food colouring and horse meat scandal have caused havoc in the food supply industry. This is not limited to the production sector only, but even the agricultural supply chain has felt the added scrutiny for the safety of crops. Hence, under such circumstances, it is essential to ensure food safety. Customers question the handling of crops during transportation and packaging. Quality of food also becomes priority. Concerns arise regarding, if the farmers get paid adequately. This brings the need of a system that can enable not only the grocery markets, but also the consumers to track the origin of the food they buy and all the other aspects involved in the agricultural supply chain. The current farmer-to-table supply chain model in India is archaic and requires immediate reforms to improve the plight of Indian farmers. Lack of structured transactions has allowed corruption to creep into every stage of food reaching from the farms to a consumer’s table. The current model has almost seven levels of intermediates that affect the transactions. The blockchain model developed here aims to restrict the middleman’s intrusive involvement and aims to improve farmer’s profits. Every transaction will be authenticated and traceable, improving transparency for customers and removing unnecessary monetary leaks, thus optimizing the income of the farmers.