Agriculture Blockchain
[Foreword] The challenges in agriculture are rapidly increasing with the impact of climate change, land degradation and natural disasters. This is affecting the global food production and supply chain which has been aggravated due to Covid-19 pandemic and this calls for more resilient and sustainable food systems. The Asia-Pacific region which has the largest number of small holder farmers and is trying to meet the sustainable development goals of United Nations has lot of responsibilities to mitigate the challenges. In this scenario Blockchain Technology has come as a respite to contribute as one of the ways to mitigate the challenges. The benefits of Blockchain in agriculture include easy and cheap food batch recalls in case of emergencies, availability of the complete history of the product status, increased customer trust and loyalty, fairer payments, approved vendors, and proper compliance management. The global blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market size estimated at USD 133 million in 2020 is expected to reach USD 948 million by 2025. Factors such as the increasing need to lower operational costs in financial transactions and the reduction of the number of layers required for data sharing and risk management and the regulatory compliances that automate and conduct only authorized transactions are driving the technology adoption. The key drivers to blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market are an increase in demand for the agricultural produce output surge, the use of smart agriculture among the growers or producers, government initiatives to support modern techniques that can be used in agriculture, and rising concerns for food safety among the consumers driving the increase in demand for the transparency in the supply chain. Increase in the popularity of blockchain among retailers/ distributors is due to rise in the tracking and tracing of various food products. Data management and data aggregation are major challenges in the precision farming market. The lack of standardization of the communication interfaces and protocols may result in the misrepresentation of the data. The present volume is intended to collate the information on the status of blockchain in the Asian region with various case studies. APAARIRI is grateful to its member the International Association of Agricultural Sustainability for joining hands in this venture and sincerely acknowledge all the contributors for their excellent chapters on various aspects of blockchain. We also acknowledge the support of Dr KS Varaprasad in his meticulous support in editing of the chapters. We also hope that the present volume will bring more awareness on the status and challenges of blockchain technology in the region to various stakeholders and may help in increased application of the technology. --Ravi Khetarpal, Executive Secretary, APAARI [Contents] Foreword Foreword Preface Preface Chapter 1: Halal Supply Chain 4.0 with Big Data and Blockchain - Rika Ampuh Hadiguna Chapter 2: The Application of Blockchain in Food Safety, Production and Marketing: Taiwan Perspective - Tzong-Ru Lee / Lee-Chung Chen Chapter 3: The Challenges of Agricultural Blockchain: A Review of Policy Steering and Actions in Thailand - Nirote Sinnarong / Olalekan Israel Aiikulola / Thanakorn Sirisugandha Chapter 4: Using Block Chain & Internet of Things (IoT) in Agri-Food Supply Chain Traceability - Lin Jun Chapter 5: Blockchain Technology for Inclusive Development of Agrarian Rural Economy - Sharbendu Banerjee