Traceability System For Agricultural Products Based On Blockchain Technology

Traceability of agricultural products is the activity of tracking the production and distribution of agricultural products in different stages, from farming, production, packaging, distribution to retailers and to the hands of consumers.

With the traceability system, you can know detailed information about each specific stage of the agricultural product.

How important is product traceability?

For businesses, the establishment of a product traceability system helps to increase competitiveness in the domestic market as well as opportunities to enter the international market.

In fact, looking up information about each stage of production, distribution, transportation or retail are essential needs of consumers. Especially in the context that the market is favoring clean agricultural products.

Current barriers in our agricultural market are still unable to clearly prove the source of origin, lack of flexibility in retrieving product information via QR-CODE, so there are many businesses are blocked, when they arrive at border gate,  and goods are not circulated in your country's market.

Strict goods censorship standards in the international market require Vietnamese businesses to quickly change and adapt. Consumer taste are increasing day by day, if you do not innovate quickly, the risk of losing business market share for businesses is great!

The establishment of a product traceability system helps to increase competitiveness | Image Source: Internet

Traceability of products and benefits to society

Although not yet popular, the traceability of agricultural products has now been applied by many businesses. According to the feedback from these companies, it can be seen that the product traceability system has brought a lot of value for businesses.

However, due to the difference in operating scale and financial capacity, small business farmers and producers will face barriers in joining this system. But in general, the benefits that product traceability bring to the community such as:

Product quality verification tool, helping consumers feel more secure about the goods they are using

At the same time, it is also a screening apparatus, helping the market and consumers eliminate small related units that do not meet product quality.

Enhancing the value of agricultural products because users can completely rely on the system to retrieve detailed information about each stage of production and distribution.

The system also supports enterprises to quickly detect errors and problems in the production process, thereby promptly providing solutions to overcome, minimizing risks that may be discharged.

From that, it is no exaggeration to say that investing in and developing a product traceability system opens up business opportunities for many businesses!

The product traceability system has brought a lot of value for businesses | Image Source: Internet

Blockchain technology application model in the traceability of agricultural products

The main links of the product traceability system will be: Manufacturer, Processor/packer; Intermediaries such as retailers, repackers, supermarkets; Consumers.

When registering to use the system, the objects participating in the transaction are all given an address to access the Blockchain network. Access allows the parties to edit and add information, each action taken is stored on the network and notified to other participants.

The database of products will be compared with a set of prestigious agricultural practice standards such as the growing area standards (GlobalGAP, VietGAP); The set of standards for the analysis and control of hazards and critical control points (HACCP) or the corresponding Vietnamese set of standards is TCVN 5603:2008; ISO standards, to return quality assessment results every time users or affiliates want to trace the origin.

For example, the manufacturer can provide information about the input materials of the product such as: Seeds, feed, medicine, used production technology, etc. These data are updated on the website. main network, then each link participating in the network can check and trace the origin of the product whenever they want.

According to the circulation process, the goods continue to reach the processing agent, where the product continues to enter additional data such as weather, humidity, temperature, ... by using identification technologies. such as barcode, QR code, RFID, NFC, .. all of this information is updated and stored on the original Blockchain network.

When registering to use the system, the objects participating in the transaction are all given an address to access the Blockchain network | Image Source: Internet

Information about product preservation process such as: Quantity in stock, product list, temperature, storage humidity, storage time, .... are also continuously updated in the data warehouse for users and stakeholders to easily search. In general, with the product traceability system you can manage, check and review some key information of the product such as:

• Information on input materials: Seeds, feed, machinery, seeds, fertilizers, etc.

• Information on farming: Environmental conditions, weather, water sources, care, ... of the process of farming agricultural products.

• Information about the production process: Equipment and machinery, production lines, infrastructure systems and methods used to process agricultural products, product batch numbers, transactions between producers and distributors, etc.

• Information about the distribution process: Constantly updating about means of transport, transportation routes, methods of preserving agricultural products during transportation, etc.

• Retail information: Number of items produced, quality standards have been met, shelf time, storage instructions, shelf life and production date, etc.

Conclusion

The traceability system for agricultural products is one of the solutions to help the agricultural industry grow and expand. Although the market has a great demand, but due to financial and human barriers, this retrieval technology has not really been widely applied in both domestic and international markets!