Overview
In India major sector is “Agriculture” provides vast employment to the youth of India. Share of the agriculture & allied sector improved to 20.2 per cent in the year 2020-21 and 18.8 per cent in 2021-22.The agriculture sector is massive, face countless challenges that affect sustainability of the industry. Right from labour work to a market place, each and every issue should be addressed, otherwise the ecosystem may fall. With such a growing population it is obvious that the food demand will increase significantly. As the population increases day to day life, to satisfy the food demand of the population, the agriculture sector should be transformed in the usage of AI, IOT, Sensors, Drones, GPS and GIS, Blockchain and other automation techniques and technologies are used to meet demands.
Introduction:
Blockchain is a technology where the information stored, it is impossible to alter or hack. It looks like a digital register, where all transactions are made a copy and dispersed throughout the network of computers. A record of each transaction is attached to each participant’s register whenever a new transaction on the block chain happens. This is utilised in agriculture to store, analyse, and use data about disease, pest, and insect infestations. Tracing information throughout the food supply chain to boost food safety. Farmers can access the information on a single platform which includes seed quality, soil moisture, climate and environmental data, payments, demand, and sale price. Small farmers are better able to utilise themselves and work together to access the market without the aid of middlemen in creating direct links between farmers and consumers/retailers.
Block chain technology uses
1. Food Safety: It offers a truthful and effective supply chain management, product tracing solution. Every step in the agricultural supply chain, keeps tracking the product information, helps in maintaining quality control also track on storage conditions. Product data from IoT devices and sensors can be stored by them.
2. Agricultural insurance:
Smart insurance contracts will enable better insurance programmes for individual farmers, agricultural holdings, and the supply chain. By eliminating the need for a middleman to evaluate insurance claims, using of smart contracts will be efficient and improve transparency throughout the claims process. The risk of fraud claims and insurance provider is decreased by after an agreement has been signed, no one would be able to change insurance plans.
3. Enhancing the traceability of supply chain:
Customers needs to know the product at each stage of the process, where, who, and how recently their commodity was planted. Additionally, it aids in decreasing food fraud such as incorrect product labelling, the number of middlemen in the supply chain.
4. Providing fair pricing
Many farmers don’t get a reasonable price as we seen in our daily life as in newspapers, news channel. The fact that the commodity is good, where numerous wholesalers actually don’t offer the desired price what they want. To reduce this incident, Using the blockchain-based market, the farmers can provide their commodity to the fair purchasers and can even reach across the country.
Limitations:
1. Dependency on the farm size:
Smaller farmers and marginal farmers can enrol in insurance. On the other hand, farmers may feel complicate for collecting and integrating farm data because they don’t have proper infrastructure needed to support such a process.
2. Inaccuracy and complexibility in data integration: Information gathered may not be
reliable since the accuracy of data entered by sensors or by individuals cannot be guaranteed.
In general, it could be challenging to integrate and evaluate some particular types of data in the supply chain.
Conclusion:
Consumers frequently lack trust in food sourcing and have limited access to food information. By ensuring that the data of supply chain, from planting to harvesting and transportation to storage, cannot be fabricated, these technologies are adding a key player of confidence to the agriculture sector. Block chain-based technology enables greater traceability and transparency in agro-food supply chains. Partners in the food supply chain can connect and exchange useful information thanks to it. With the correct technical expertise and business skills, food growers and retailers may improve the revenue from their crops and products. Customers can verify that the food they are purchasing is healthy, sustainable, and safe. Because consumers may check product information from its origins (farmers’ and crop data) to production and storage.