According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (United Nations), 1 out of 10 people fall ill after eating contaminated food and about 420,000 die every year, out of which 125,000 are children below five. These numbers demonstrate how the food that we enjoy so much can make us sick and result in the death of our near ones. Food supply chain is complex as it goes through multiple production steps and travels across continents. Every step of the way, food-related raw materials, and finished products are at high risk of contamination. If they are deemed contaminated, it's very difficult and near impossible to identify the source(s) of contamination. Because of this complexity, we are often exposed to contaminated food due to fraudulent practices and even adulteration.
Image: Contaminated strawberry (Image Link)
In order to satisfy the growing demand for agricultural products, farmers often use intensive farming practices and banned chemicals to increase productivity. These practices are not only producing unhealthy products, it is also degrading the quality of our soil, water, and ecosystems. Thus, it is high time that we promote sustainable agriculture practices at the highest level possible.
To mitigate these challenges of food contamination and adulteration, it is imperative that we create a transparent supply chain with the ability to perform end-to-end tracking and knowing the sources of the food we eat, who and how it was produced and handled.
What is AgriClear?
Agriclear is powered by Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible private blockchain network to store all its transactional data and enhance transparency and accountability among the stakeholders of agro-supply chain. It provides verifiable evidence of food traceability which gives the consumers increased trust in the products that they buy. It also rewards the farmers who employ good agricultural practices. With AgriClear, farmers, distributors, aggregators, regulators, retailers and end consumers will know the status of the product from seedling to delivery.
Value Propositions of AgriClear
The blockchain-based AgriClear offers the following value propositions to farmers, consumers, and other stakeholders in the supply chain:
- Consumers know the story behind the journey of products they are buying – a type of soil, fertilizers, seed, etc. used for plant products, type of feeding materials, antibiotics, or vaccines were used to rear livestock. Farms can also digitally manage the chain of custody of their agro-products during distribution e.g., who transported the agro-product, how it was processed, and if the handlers were certified.
- Transparency in the supply chain helps agro-businesses build trust with their consumers and their trading partners thereby increasing their brand value and consumer base.
- Reduce fraudulent practices including falsified certifications and labeling. This reduces the burden on regulators, who have to spend significant resources in-field inspections, testing, and enforcement actions.
AgriClear the Platform
AgriClear's solution connects stakeholders through a transparent and traceable blockchain ledger. AgriClear platform includes an online dashboard to manage and monitor supply chain and a digital wallet to record information. It has the following features -
- Farm Management System. Farm Management System digitizes and manages the farm, crop, farmers, and distributor databases. Farmers can track the crop activities of their farms against the crop calendar.
- Transparency and Traceability. AgriClear maintains a chain of custody of agro-products, including the life cycle records like chemicals used and harvest date. Consumers can track and identify the provenance of the agro-products to farmer level by simply scanning a QR code.
- Digital Agro Advisory Service. AgriClear provides customized meteorological information to enhance their productivity and minimize loss.
- Agro Knowledgebase. AgriClear provides information on detailed crop and livestock rearing like planting period, special husbandry practices, harvesting periods, etc. specific to ecological zones. The locally adapted crop calendar can help farmers standardize farming practices to increase productivity.
- Analytical Dashboard & Reporting. Digital data is turned into structured information which helps evaluate the current status and historical condition.It helps stakeholders make data-informed decisions by forecasting future trends and potential issues.
Pilot Projects in Nepal
AgriClear is being used in Nepal to track multiple agro products like sweet oranges (locally called Junar), eggs, coffee, tea, etc. in collaboration with local agro-businesses. We recently tracked 6.6 tons of sweet oranges from the region of Sindhuli to various domestic markets. The region is well known to produce sweet oranges. However, some retail sellers have brought sweet oranges from other regions and sold them as produced in Sindhuli. With geographical information such as location, altitude of Junar production, and demographic information of Junar farmers, AgriClear was able to provide a data-backed identity to market the sweet orange as “Sindhuli ko Junar” (loosely translated as Junar from Sindhuli). The use of the AgriClear system to track Junar helped the farmers to increase their sales by 40% compared to the previous year. Next product we tracked with AgriClear premium quality eggs.
(These pilot projects have been quite successful with the farmers, which is evidenced from the following testimonials:
“Use of the AgriClear System and QR code helped Junar farmers to develop their market in Kathmandu.”- Yogendra B. Thapa, Sweet orange cooperative head
“Online marketing and the AgriClear System have helped us in our sales as well as tourism as people are now attracted towards our farm too.”- Mithu K. Thapa, Sweet orange farmer
“Eggs from our farms are high quality but our team always struggled to create that uniqueness and differentiate our products from others in the market. Use of AgriClear to track the supply chain information has provided us with a platform to reach our consumers directly and tell them our brand stories.” Moushumi Shrestha - Managing Director of Shreenagar Agro Farm.
Conclusion
Agriclear is on a journey to create a transparent agro supply chain and help the farmers build trust with end-consumers by providing them tamper-proof information about the food’s provenance. With the ongoing pilots on multiple products, we have been learning and improving the AgriClear ecosystem each day to make it more user-friendly. If you are interested in tracking your agro-products and creating your brand story, contact us for more information.
Contact information
To learn more about AgriClear contact us -