Discovering the Global Landscape of Agri-Food and Blockchain: A Bibliometric Review

Abstract

The agri-food supply chain encompasses all the entities involved in the production and processing of food, from producers to consumers. Traceability is crucial in ensuring that food products are available, affordable, and accessible. Blockchain technology has been proposed as a way to improve traceability in the agri-food supply chain by providing transparency and trust. However, research in this area is still in its early stages. This study aims to examine the trend of blockchain in agri-food supply chain traceability for food security. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 1047 scholarly works from the Scopus database, starting in 2016. The analysis looked at citation patterns and the development of blockchain technology in agri-food supply chain research and identified trends by source title, nation, institution, and key players. The analysis also examined the frequency of keywords, titles, and abstracts to identify key themes. The analysis has revealed a strong correlation between blockchain technology and traceability in the agri-food supply chain, indicating a promising area for further research. The results show that blockchain-based research for traceability in the agri-food supply chain has increased and is being widely distributed, particularly in regions beyond Europe. The potential benefits it can bring to the supply chain will contribute to the success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by ensuring a safe and sufficient global food supply.