Bumper Harvests: Blockchain can benefit the agricultural ecosystem

Nonetheless, there continues to be important info asymmetry and lack of significant knowledge about developments within the ecosystem, which might facilitate the change of data and assist key stakeholders introduce strategic data-led insurance policies and interventions.

By Sridhar Easwaran & Vijaya Bhaskar Marisetty

A number of tech improvements together with AI and ML, are being more and more launched by enterprises to assist farmers improve farm productiveness, take well-informed selections, and join them to the bigger ecosystem to find synergies. Nonetheless, there continues to be important info asymmetry and lack of significant knowledge about developments within the ecosystem, which might facilitate the change of data and assist key stakeholders introduce strategic data-led insurance policies and interventions.

Discrepancies throughout the worth chains may be managed, to an extent, by leveraging applied sciences corresponding to blockchain. Usually, blockchain is seen as a expertise that facilitates the decentralisation of data, permitting quick access to all of the members all through the worth chain. At present, agri gamers are more and more alternatives, the place this expertise may be utilized to simplify monetary procedures, in addition to to combine all of the stakeholders within the agri sector. From enter suppliers to farmers and credit score suppliers to logistics suppliers, these stakeholders may be introduced onto a single platform to work together, share and eat knowledge in a safe and clear atmosphere.

Fixing info asymmetry within the ecosystem
Given the a number of gamers throughout a number of steps and ranges of the worth chain, there’s a big quantity of knowledge technology and transactions every day within the farm sector. Nonetheless, the supply of knowledge and upkeep of information continues to be very poor. One of many inherent challenges that the sector nonetheless faces is that there aren’t any information accessible on the transactions that happen on the farmer degree, resulting from a number of channels and no applicable technique of recording.

There’s a have to hint transactions all through the agri worth chain proper from FPOs, enter suppliers to how the product was procured and bought to the institutional patrons. Blockchain may help construction varied monetary companies merchandise which is able to carry lots of cohesiveness in how organisations interact with the FPOs. It might join FPOs with distributors, meals processors, and packaging companies, permitting patrons and sellers to work together with out an middleman in a safe and trusted atmosphere. It additionally eliminates the requirement for intermediaries to be paid out of farmers’ margins, thereby rising their revenue portion.

Blockchain will enhance asset traceability, present correct knowledge on farmers’ enter necessities to enter suppliers, and stock knowledge to output suppliers. This may assist estimate future money move predictions, enabling lenders to buy inputs on behalf of the farmers’ and supply commerce finance. For instance, the Maharashtra State Warehousing Company (MSWC) just lately introduced its plan to introduce this ledger expertise to assist farmers entry commodity finance sooner. Equally, the College of Hyderabad, in collaboration with gamers corresponding to Samunnati, Synchrony IT and Social Schooling Economical Improvement Society (SEEDS) introduced an built-in blockchain resolution to carry the complete agri ecosystem, from farmers to financing consultants to a single platform.

A latest EY report means that agritech in India remains to be in infancy with simply 1% penetration of the addressable market potential of $24 billion. Though the agriculture sector has began deploying applied sciences corresponding to blockchain, within the coming years it is going to positively discover extra purposes in fixing many different issues confronted by farmers. This may span finance, accessibility to assets and data, networking and a number of different elements.

Sridhar Easwaran is founding member and head – Establishment and Capability Constructing, Samunnati; Vijaya Bhaskar Marisetty is a professor at College of Hyderabad