Content uploaded by Roberto Mavilia
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Roberto Mavilia on Jun 06, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rajs20
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and
Development
ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rajs20
Blockchain for agricultural sector: The case of
South Africa
Roberto Mavilia & Roberta Pisani
To cite this article: Roberto Mavilia & Roberta Pisani (2022) Blockchain for agricultural sector: The
case of South Africa, African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 14:3,
845-851, DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2021.1908660
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2021.1908660
Published online: 19 May 2021.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 1159
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
Blockchain for agricultural sector: The case of South Africa
Roberto Mavilia
1,2,3
*and Roberta Pisani
2,3
1
ICRIOS –Invernizzi Centre for Research on Innovation, Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
2
Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, Milan, Italy
3
MEDAlics –Research Center for Mediterranean Relations, Reggio Calabria, Italy
*Corresponding author email: roberto.mavilia@unibocconi.it
New technologies are playing a fundamental role in the postmodern era of globalization where interpersonal interactions at
the international level and the exchange of goods, services, information and capital are the basis of all activities. The
agriculture sector is constantly facing numerous challenges including the steady growth of the population, climate
change, the increasing number of catastrophes, the loss of biodiversity and the spread of parasites. This paper analyzes
the impacts of Blockchain applications in agriculture and the food supply chain, through a survey literature review,
providing the various players in the agriculture value chain with new tools and key technologies to improve production
and distribution processes. To demonstrate the importance of applying the Blockchain in the agriculture sector,
especially for emerging countries, the case of South Africa is examined. This focus is one of the unique aspects of this
paper, which is the first to deal with this kind of solution applied to the South African context. Our findings indicate
that Blockchain, in the e-agricultural context, has the potential for reshaping the entire sector, contributing also to the
resolution of the food crisis. This paper discusses the overall implications, limits, challenges and potentials of these
applications, from a critical point of view.
Keywords: blockchain, innovation management, digital transformation, agricultural sector, agri-food, South Africa
Introduction
New technologies are playing a fundamental role in the
postmodern era of globalization where interpersonal inter-
actions at the international level and the exchange of
goods, services, information and capital are the basis of
all the activities. Blockchain technology, in particular, is
attracting more and more the attention of the academic
world and the corporate sector.
The use of data and information in the agricultural
sector has increased its value as a key factor for the
development of productivity and sustainability. Infor-
mation and Communication Technology (ICT) has
improved the degree of effectiveness and efficiency
in the processes of collecting, saving, analyzing, and
using data in the agricultural sector (Xiong et al.
2020).
By allowing immutable and decentralized trans-
actions, Blockchain technology is applied in various
sectors, both financial and non-financial.
More specifically, the agriculture sector is constantly
facing numerous challenges, including the steady
growth of the population, climate change, the increasing
number of catastrophes, the loss of biodiversity and the
spread of parasites. Therefore, innovation in agricultural
processes is necessary to overcome these challenges and
make agriculture a profitable activity for small- and
large-scale farmers.
New technology applications such as Blockchain,
Internet of Things (IoT), drones, Big Data and artificial
intelligence can provide the various players in the agricul-
ture value chain with new tools and key technologies to
improve production and distribution processes.
Despite the great potential of new technology appli-
cations, it is essential to consider their relative costs and
implementation risks when assessing the possibility of
using them in various sectors of the economy.
To verify whether a process could benefit from a
Blockchain-based solution, the first step is to identify
use cases, followed by the identification of the fundamen-
tal guidelines of the process (including regulatory require-
ments, stakeholders, legal frameworks, interoperability
with the existing system and other key requirements),
and the identification of the technology that could help
to address the challenges of the particular case analyzed.
In many cases, in fact, a much simpler digital solution
could be the answer to the problem.
Taking into account the great potential of Blockchain
technology, this paper aims to review the main appli-
cations of Blockchain in the agricultural sector, with a
particular focus on South Africa.
In Section I, after a literature review of Blockchain
technology in order to deepen its definition and character-
istics, the research questions are presented.
In order to demonstrate the importance of applying
Blockchain in the agriculture sector, Section II analyzes
the main applications in this sector.
After a brief overview of the South African agriculture
sector and the contribution of agriculture to the South
African economy (Section III), Section IV presents a
use-case: the ‘Blockchain for Agrifood’Project.
Finally, Section V presents limits, challenges, and
policy recommendations and the last section provides
the conclusions of this paper.
Literature review and research questions
The birth of the Blockchain is linked to the publication of
the white paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Elec-
tronic Cash System”in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto,
whose identity is still unknown.
This paper describes a purely peer-to-peer version of
electronic money known as Bitcoin. With this event,
Blockchain technology, literally a chain of blocks, made
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development is co-published by NISC Pty (Ltd) and Informa Limited (trading as Taylor & Francis Group)
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 2022
Vol. 14, No. 3, 845–851, https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2021.1908660
© 2021 African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development
its public debut. The Blockchain is a type of Distributed
Ledger Technology (DLT), a distributed, shared,
encrypted database that acts as an irreversible and incor-
ruptible repository of information. It is a digital platform
that stores and verifies the entire chronology of trans-
actions between users through the network (Nakamoto
2008).
There is no unanimously accepted definition of Block-
chain. Nevertheless, it is possible to outline three comp-
lementary conceptualizations of this technology
(Mavilia and Pisani 2018).
From a technical point of view, the Blockchain is a
database consisting of a ledger divided between users
and can be openly inspected; it is not, therefore, phys-
ically present in a single server, but is placed on several
computers at the same time, all synchronized in real-time.
From the business point of view, it is a network where
transactions, exchanges of values and exchanges of goods
between users can be carried out without the existence of
central mediators.
On the other hand, from a legal point of view, the
Blockchain validates transactions, replacing the old cen-
tralized bodies.
Each block in the Blockchain contains at least the fol-
lowing fields (Demestichas et al. 2020):
.the block number;
.the data or transactions stored;
.the hash value of each previous block;
.the hash value of the current block.
In each block there is always another field called
‘nonce’. The existing link between the values of hashs
(of the current block and the previous block) explains
the meaning of this cryptographically linked chain
(Demestichas et al. 2020).
A commonly used algorithm for cryptography
implementation is the SHA256 hash generated by the
National Security Agency.
Thanks to this hashing algorithm, it is not possible to
practice reverse engineering techniques. Once the data has
been entered into the Blockchain, it cannot be modified in
any way. In fact, if someone tries to tamper or corrupt the
data stored in a block, changing its hash, this will lead to
an interruption of the cryptographic link, and all the sub-
sequent blocks will no longer be valid and connected to
the Blockchain (Demestichas et al. 2020).
Currently, the most promising Blockchain appli-
cations can be found in the financial sector. Further
fields of application can be seen in the insurance sector
(Dai and Vasarhelyi 2017), data protection, intellectual
property protection, electronic voting systems, and iden-
tity verification as well as in government services, the
health sector, and medical research (Nichol and Brandt
2016), for social purposes and for the catching-up of
developing countries (Mavilia and Pisani 2020).
The applications of this technology can be divided
into two macro areas: financial and non-financial
applications.
Taking into account the great potential of this technol-
ogy, the non-financial field included, the research ques-
tions that this paper poses and wants to answer are:
.What are the main Blockchain applications that can be
implemented in the agricultural sector? (RQ1)
.What are the main characteristics of the agricultural
sector in South Africa in socio-economic terms and
which pilot projects can support it? (RQ2)
After answering these research questions, this paper
analyzes the possible limitations and challenges that can
be identified (from the user-farmer and the government
perspective), and then provides several policy
recommendations.
Blockchain applications for agricultural sector
In order to respond to RQ1, in this section a critical review
of the literature is carried out to analyze the main appli-
cations and some of the most emblematic practical cases.
Different studies and numerous pilot projects have
been launched to evaluate the Blockchain applications
in the agricultural sector (Tripoli and Schmidhuber 2018).
Niknejad et al.(2020) indicated that the research into
the concept of Blockchain in the food and agriculture
industry started in 2016 and continued to receive increas-
ing attention, particularly in 2019. Moreover, their results
demonstrate that India, China, and the USA are the
leading countries in publishing papers focused on Block-
chain technology in the food and agriculture industry
(Niknejad et al. 2020).
This growing trend is driven by several concerns. The
main ones are linked to: food contamination and fraud
problems, data security and security in intelligent agricul-
ture and IoT-based solutions, trust and efficiency in finan-
cial transactions in the agricultural supply chain, and
transparency and integrity of agriculture data (Li, Wang,
and Li 2020).
Agricultural supply chains
The agricultural supply chains present substantial ineffi-
ciencies which affect all the players in the chain, from
producers to consumers. It is estimated that the cost of
operational supply chains constitutes two-thirds of the
final cost of goods (Niforos 2017).
Blockchain technology due to its technical and gov-
ernance characteristics seems a suitable system in order
to communicate information to all stakeholders in the
Agri-food supply chain (Motta, Tekinerdogan, and Atha-
nasiadis 2020).
The application of Blockchain technology in this
supply chain management has been implemented since
2016 (Rijanto 2020). From the literature, it has been
observed that traceability was the most promoted appli-
cation of Blockchain in the agricultural field (Yadav and
Singh 2019).
The Blockchain stores immutable records that are
transparent and, potentially, accessible to any user. This
technology has the potential to create huge efficiencies
for each actor in the supply chain and can help to create
more efficient business models at the agricultural and
farm level (Bogomolov et al. 2019).
In addition, through Blockchain technology, users are
able to build digital identities. Blockchain technology
generates a large amount of data from transactions in
846 Mavilia and Pisani
agricultural supply chains and agricultural financial ser-
vices. The Blockchain technology stores each recorded
transaction, and it is able to provide the actors in the
supply chain with detailed records of their operations,
financial service activities and more accurate and better
quality market information.
Blockchain technology could potentially act as a core
technology that integrates other emerging digital technol-
ogies, such as artificial intelligence, IoT, big data, and 3D
printing into its platform, to continuously improve the
management of the agricultural supply chain.
Logistics, traceability and quality standards
In order to ensure food safety it is critical to monitor the
development of agricultural products and to manage an
efficient logistic system in the food market, as well as in
its production chain.
The dynamic nature of information in the food or agri-
cultural production chain makes it difficult to trace. Track-
ing is a necessary tool to ensure food safety and quality,
and to avoid the risks of contamination. In this scenario,
the Blockchain increases trust among stakeholders by
ensuring transparency and immutability in transactions
(Salah et al. 2019).
The Blockchain provides a platform for traceability in
agricultural supply chains. It is thus able to keep track of
the origin, and guarantee the authenticity of agricultural
products. In fact, food is the most direct way to get in
touch with a place (Baralla et al. 2018). Demestichas
et al. (2020) showed that Blockchain can advantageously
help to obtain traceability by storing data in an irreversible
and immutable way.
This solution will make regulatory control easier as
the product can be traced along the entire supply chain,
and possible fraudulent behaviour that is discouraged in
this way can be identified. It is therefore possible to
prevent fraud (the so-called false labels) in the food
market (Aldağand Eker 2018).
The greater traceability of the production and proces-
sing of agricultural products will improve the ability to
ensure compliance with food standards (national and
international) and sustainability.
However, considering elements such as hierarchy,
Blockchain experiences and the industrial sector have a
significant impact on logistics professionals in this field
(Hackius and Petersen 2017).
Financial services for agricultural sector
The agricultural sector will benefit from the Blockchain
by reducing costs, and risks for sellers and banks, and
bringing greater efficiency gains to supply chains for
commercial financing operations.
Other types of financial services, such as payment,
insurance and credit services, can be carried out using
Blockchain, thus helping the actors in the agricultural
supply chain to reduce costs and risks, and to manage
liquidity and maximize returns.
Smart contract and commercial finance
The Blockchain uses smart contracts to automatically
execute payment settlement in real time, evaluating
delivery first, then verifying that the buyer has sufficient
funds, and finally securing the funds on behalf of the
buyer awaiting delivery. These smart contracts can facili-
tate entrepreneurial collaboration of inter-organizational
business processes in the context of smart rural supply
chains (Prause and Boevsky 2019).
The Blockchain can also increase access to commer-
cial finance. Commercial finance has not been able to
meet demand, particularly from SMEs and emerging
economies.
Digital payment services
As with payments, for many players in the agricultural
value chain, financial transactions are mainly based on
cash. This process is slow and expensive, and is subject
to risks such as theft and loss.
Digital payment services make it possible to reduce
costs and risks deriving from cash-based transactions,
while also generating data on the cash flows of the
actors in the value chain that can be used to assess
credit risk. For example, the AgriLedger platform
allows farmers to carry out transactions via the Block-
chain using smartphones (Kim and Laskowski 2018).
Another example is represented by the FarmShare
platform through which users can exchange agricultural
products, paying with cryptocurrency (Kim and Las-
kowski 2018).
Agricultural insurance
As for insurance applications, agricultural insurance is a
risk management tool that helps to stabilize agricultural
income and investments in the event of losses. With the
Blockchain, insurance payments would become fully
digitized and automated with the use of smart contracts
and better insurance coverage would be possible.
For example, the Etherisc platform uses the Block-
chain to provide insurance for growers in developing
countries (Kim and Laskowski 2018).
Credit services
With regard to the credit sector, the main impediments for
financial institutions to supply credit products to the
sector are the costs of maintaining remote areas, the
lack of data to assess the creditworthiness of the appli-
cants or the guarantees.
The Blockchain could provide financial institutions
with data on the operations of farmers and other players
in the value chain, necessary to provide numerous finan-
cial services.
Everex, for instance, is a start-up that offers small
loans in developing countries through smart contracts
enabling more transparent transactions, and allowing
creditors to lower costs and therefore providing borrowers
with better conditions (Kim and Laskowski 2018).
Agricultural markets are inherently volatile, and agri-
cultural and price incomes are vulnerable to exogenous
shocks. Derivatives are used as a risk management tool
to cover price risk and set a future price for the harvest.
The Blockchain could also be applied in agricultural
derivatives markets.
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 847
Land registry
Furthermore, the Blockchain is able to address many of
the shortcomings of traditional land registries.
In emerging countries, the process of registering the
sale or purchase of land is often complicated and highly
susceptible to fraud. Land cartels corrupt the land regis-
tration process, making it difficult for buyers to know if
the land is litigation free (Aldag 2019).
Blockchain technology can provide a secure, fast, and
immutable method for registering land titles, which will
promote trust in the reliability of the system. A virtuous
example is land management in Ghana (Eder 2019). In
addition, even if the land is owned by farmers, when
their ownership is not registered, as often happens, they
cannot obtain funding for all the inputs they desire (Jain
2019).
BenBen Ghana has devised and developed a useful
platform for capturing transactions and verifying land
ownership data, enabling smart contracts through Block-
chain technology to ensure that land records are found
or remain unchanged (Janssen and Bolt 2018).
Agricultural sector in South Africa
To respond to RQ2, this section analyzes the South
African agricultural sector in order to better understand
its characteristics.
South Africa is by far the most developed country on
the African continent. South Africa represents an oper-
ational base that has advantages over the rest of the
African landscape. The development prospects of this
country are significant not only as a market in itself, but
also as a hub for the wider sub-Saharan area, both in the
commercial field and for production partnerships.
After the end of apartheid, the South African economy
has undergone a process of great transformation, going
from a structure based on the primary sector to a model
in which services and manufacturing have gradually
increased their importance: according to the data of
2017, these sectors respectively contribute 29.7% and
67.5% to the formation of the country’s GDP, while agri-
culture contributes the remaining 2.8%.
The agrarian question in South Africa is long-standing
and closely related to its colonial history and the apartheid
regime.
The agricultural sector employs a total of 870,000
people and production is around 15 billion euros.
Although it represents only 2.2% of GDP, the government
attributes a fundamental role to the sector in the economic
and social development of the country. This is testified by
the central role of the agrarian reform issue in the coun-
try’s political debate.The Agri-food industry, which rep-
resents 25% of the manufacturing sector, is capable of
producing very competitive high quality goods in inter-
national markets.
With the opening of the country to international
markets, South African farms have seen foreign sales
increase, and have concluded numerous collaboration
agreements with foreign companies.
This, in addition to promoting the penetration of local
companies by foreign companies, has allowed South
Africa to access the latest technologies and sector
expertise, and to improve the competitiveness of local
companies on international markets.
In addition, South Africa is the gateway to most of the
products and consumer goods destined for other African
countries, which use the country’s logistics and distri-
bution structures and its technological equipment (packa-
ging, transport, etc.) to supply the own markets.
The main productions are:
.Fruit growing: The variety of climatic conditions in the
country allows the growth of species in temperate and
tropical areas. The production of citrus fruits (especially
oranges) is by far the most important and represents, in
terms of value, the first export item in the agricultural
sector.
.Wine production: South Africa is the eighth largest wine
producer globally, with a percentage equal to 3.8% of
the world production. The vineyards, as a whole,
occupy an area of over 100 thousand hectares and are
located mainly in the Western Cape, and in some areas
of the Northern Cape along the Orange River. The pro-
duction counts many qualities of fine wines and exports
exceed 400 million litres.
.Corn: The country is one of the world’s largest produ-
cers of corn, coming mainly from the so-called ‘Corn tri-
angle’, where peanuts, sunflowers, cotton, and cork are
also grown.
Blockchain use case for food tracking grapes in
South Africa
Given the important role that wine production plays in the
South African agricultural sector, it is relevant to analyze
the pilot project ‘Blockchain for Agrifood’for tracking
grapes through the Blockchain.
The project ‘Blockchain for Agrifood’was launched
in March 2017. This pilot project was carried out by
Wageningen Economic Research and TNO in collabor-
ation with RVO, AgroConnect, VAA ICT Consultancy,
NVWA, AgriPlace, OTC Holland, Floricode, BC3, GS1,
Control Union, SKAL, and PPM Oost.
This pilot project was commissioned and financed by
the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food
Quality within the programme ‘Voedselagenda’, the
Dutch Food Agenda.
The ‘Blockchain for Agrifood’pilot project aims to
provide a better understanding of the applications of
Blockchain technology in Agri-food, in particular for
Agri-food chains.
In order to achieve this result, this pilot project ana-
lyzed some issues concerning the relevance of Blockchain
applications, the applicability in real contexts and the
potential impacts of the Blockchain in Agri-food
through the review of the literature.
Another purpose of ‘Blockchain for Agrifood’is to
create and implement a proof of concept, starting from
the case study linked to table grapes in South Africa.
This project has built a system capable of tracing the
certificates in the supply chain of table grapes in South
Africa.
In order to demonstrate the main objective of this
proof-of-concept application, i.e., the added value of the
use of Blockchain for Agri-food, this project has
848 Mavilia and Pisani
implemented a case study relating to the certification and
provenance of South African table grapes.
This project analyzes these following aspects in the
grape supply chain:
.Origin: Through Blockchain it is possible to trace the
origin of the grapes from the buyer to producer;
.Issue of certificate and validation: Certification authority
issues certificate to products. All certificates can be
stored on Blockchain and, as a matter of fact, all Block-
chain participants can verify the validity of a certificate
and the issuer;
.The certification authority may authorize other compa-
nies to issue certificates. However, certification auth-
orities can also revoke the issue of certificates;
.Audit of these certificates: Audit organizations should
be able to revoke certificates. These organizations may
also block individuals who issue certificates in the
event of fraud or other unethical behaviour. The
results of the audit processes should also be visible on
the Blockchain.
In order to achieve these objectives using the appli-
cations of Blockchain technology, the project must
implement all aforementioned objectives.
This application focuses on the grape supply chain,
produced on a South African farm. This company pro-
duces organic grapes. This gives rise to the interest that
a certification authority can confirm that this South
African farm produces organic grapes.
The certification authorities can issue certificates to
this farm, allowing it to certify its production. The grape
cases have a unique identification number, such as a
barcode. All parties in this chain can verify the validity
of this certificate.
After certification, these cases are shipped to a retailer
and are sold to supermarkets, and then to the end
customers.
Furthermore, when the grapes change ownership, this
is registered in the Blockchain. This process allows
control of the chain of origin of the grapes.
In the event that auditors find that the farm has used
unauthorized pesticides, the auditor can revoke the certi-
ficates issued by this farm. This revocation must be regis-
tered on the Blockchain.
The case study analyzed shows how it is possible,
through the new technological tools, to mitigate the coun-
terparty risk in agricultural transactions up to eliminating
them, making secure payments and allowing the traceabil-
ity and transparency that agricultural value chains need.
Limits, challenges and policy recommendations
As can be seen from this paper, digitalization of the agri-
cultural sector through new technologies, in primis Block-
chain, presents immense potential benefits for consumers,
society and the environment.
In order to unlock the potential benefits, stakeholders
need to understand the real value that digital transform-
ation of the agricultural sector in South Africa will
bring (Accenture 2018).
Blockchain appears very promising and rich of great
potential, showing a good flexibility for applications in
several sectors. But it is still immature and hard to
apply due to its complexity (Antonucci et al. 2019).
The application of Blockchain in modern agriculture
is still in the early stage of development and it is relatively
complex because of its interdisciplinarity (Li, Wang, and
Li 2020).
The managerial implications for those who work in
the agricultural sector with the use of the Blockchain
are different.
First of all, for a user-perspective it is necessary to
acquire the necessary skills to be able to implement
these applications and to make the best use of this
technology.
In fact, when a new technology is introduced, it is not
easy for the average employee to use it in a short time.
As a matter of fact, many farmers are unfamiliar
with smart agriculture, and they lack the skills required
to fully apply Blockchain technology to modern
agriculture.
It can be seen that Blockchain technology has a high
threshold for the development of modern agriculture
(Li, Wang, and Li 2020).
In addition, partnerships with Blockchain technology
related service providers are required. In fact, to achieve
the result of product traceability, a technology platform
with secure, shareable data, based on smart and decentra-
lized contracts is required.
In order to connect and align the interests of each actor
in the Agri-food value chain, infrastructure must be rede-
signed for the modern economy (Mimm 2018).
The explosion in new digital technologies, especially
the Blockchain, raises many questions for economic and
social actors who need to adapt (Toulon 2018).
From the above, it emerges that the implications for
policymakers are numerous and mainly rely on the
concept of product traceability and transparency of pro-
cesses related to the agricultural world, and on access to
credit for farmers (Kamble, Gunasekaran, and Sharma
2020).
The Agri-food sector is in a relevant position to
deepen the potential application of Blockchain technology
in this field. There is a rapid increase in the level of digi-
tization and a greater demand for information about the
integrity of the product.
However, it should be noted that Blockchain appli-
cations in the Agri-food sector are still in their first
steps, but more and more initiatives have been launched
by various organizations.
From a policy perspective, several actions can be
taken, such as: encouraging the growth of Blockchain
ecosystems in Agri-food chains; supporting this technol-
ogy as part of the general purpose to optimize the compe-
titiveness and ensure the sustainability of the Agri-food
supply chain, as well as designing a regulatory framework
for Blockchain applications (Kamilaris, Fonts, and Prena-
feta-Boldύ2019).
Given the above, in order to avoid wasting of
resources and losing future opportunities in the business
sector and for governments, it would be advisable to
improve coordination for the implementation of these
applications (Ge et al. 2017).
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 849
In order to implement successful applications, it is
necessary not only to work on Blockchain technology.
Above all, it is necessary to focus on governance and
organizational issues for collaboration, digitization, and
standardization of data, including with additional technol-
ogies such as big data analysis. The Blockchain needs to
reach the stage of maturity. This can be achieved by col-
laborating with the right main players, and by implement-
ing and testing different Blockchain solutions. This
technology offers high development potential in combi-
nation with a strategy for digitization, targeted enhance-
ment of its users’capabilities and an impact-based
approach (Janssen and Bolt 2018).
From a political point of view, in order to be able to
implement these applications in the most effective and
efficient way, it is necessary (Ge et al. 2017) to:
.promote the implementation of Blockchain solutions as
a relevant part of the digital strategy of the Agri-food
sector, in order to increase transparency, efficiency,
competitiveness, and sustainability;
.encourage the development of the Blockchain ecosys-
tem in Agri-food chains;
.create a specific regulatory framework for Blockchain
applications in the Agri-food sector;
.provide public investment in R&D in order to highlight
the added value of Blockchain applications.
Conclusions
Through the analysis carried out, this paper investigated
how new technologies and, in particular, Blockchain tech-
nology can be implemented in various projects and initiat-
ives in the agricultural sector, aiming to create trust within
value chains and make them transparent and sustainable,
integrating all the main stakeholders.
Blockchain, in the context of e-agriculture, has the
potential for reshaping the entire sector as well as contri-
buting to the resolution of the food crisis.
Despite this, there are still many aspects that need to
be improved and problems to be solved, both technically
and beyond. For instance, there are at least three key
lessons from COVID-19 related global food supply
chain (Lin et al. 2020):
1) the need of real-time accurate information for parties
involved;
2) more efficient coordination between the parties
globally;
3) more efficient process in order to reduce the time spent
in bureaucratic procedures.
These key lessons can represent the starting point for
improving existing Blockchain solutions in this sector.
Further research will aim to investigate if and how the
challenges that still characterize these applications can be
definitively overcome, and to find the right way for the
implementation of this technology in the agricultural
sector in order to exploit its great potential.
Acknowledgments
Afirst draft of this paper entitled “Scaling Blockchain for Agri-
cultural Sector: The Agridigital Case”(Mavilia and Pisani 2019)
was presented at the ITEMA 2019 Conference 3rd International
Scientific Conference on IT, Tourism, Economics, Management
and Agriculture and was selected to appear in the Conference
Proceedings ITEMA 2019.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the
authors.
ORCID iDs
Roberto Mavilia http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9030-
0079
Roberta Pisani http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4869-0448
References
Accenture. 2018. Unlocking Digital Value in South Africa’s
Agriculture Sector.
Aldag, M. C. 2019.“The Use of Blockchain Technology in
Agriculture.”Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu
Ekonomicznego w Krakowie 982 (4): 7–17.
Aldağ, M. C., and B. Eker. 2018. How to Use Blockchain
Technology in Agriculture.
Antonucci, F., S. Figorilli, C. Costa, F. Pallottino, L. Raso, and P.
Menesatti. 2019.“A Review on Blockchain Applications in
the Agri-Food Sector.”Journal of the Science of Food and
Agriculture 99 (14): 6129–6138.
Baralla, G., S. Ibba, M. Marchesi, R. Tonelli, and S. Missineo.
2018.“A Blockchain Based System to Ensure
Transparency and Reliability in Food Supply Chain.”In
European Conference on Parallel Processing, edited by
G. Mencagli et al., 379–391. Cham: Springer.
Bogomolov, A. E., L. E. Popok, D. N. Savinskaya, and E. B.
Tyunin. 2019.“Blockchain Technology as Efficiency
Improvement Tool for the Agricultural Sector.”In SHS
Web of Conferences (Vol. 71), edited by V. Mantulenko,
04012. Samara, Russia: EDP Sciences.
Dai, J., and M. A. Vasarhelyi. 2017.“Toward Blockchain-Based
Accounting and Assurance.”Journal of Information
Systems 31 (3): 5–21.
Demestichas, K., N. Peppes, T. Alexakis, and E. Adamopoulou.
2020.“Blockchain in Agriculture Traceability Systems: A
Review.”Applied Sciences 10 (12): 4113.
Eder, G. 2019.Digital Transformation: Blockchain and Land
Titles. Paris: OECD Global Anti-Corruption & Integrity
Forum.
Ge, L., C. Brewster, J. Spek, A. Smeenk, J. Top, F. van Diepen,
and M. D. R. de Wildt. 2017.Blockchain for Agriculture and
Food: Findings from the Pilot Study (No. 2017-112). The
Hague: Wageningen Economic Research.
Hackius, N., and M. Petersen. 2017.“Blockchain in Logistics
and Supply Chain: Trick or Treat?”In Proceedings of the
Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL),
edited by Carlos Jahn, Wolfgang Kersten, Christian
M. Ring, 3–18. Berlin: epubli GmbH.
Jain, M. 2019.“A Study of Application of Blockchain
Technology in Agriculture Sector.”Unnati International
Journal of Multidisciplinary Scientific Research,
U.I.J.M.S.R 1 (5): 38–44.
Janssen, S., and J. Bolt. 2018.“Promising Blockchain
Applications for Agriculture.”ICT Update 88: 20–21.
Kamble, S. S., A. Gunasekaran, and R. Sharma. 2020.
“Modeling the Blockchain Enabled Traceability in
Agriculture Supply Chain.”International Journal of
Information Management 52: 101967.
Kamilaris, A., A. Fonts, and F. X. Prenafeta-Boldύ.2019.“The
Rise of Blockchain Technology in Agriculture and Food
Supply Chains.”Trends in Food Science & Technology
91: 640–652.
Kim, H. M., and M. Laskowski. 2018.“Agriculture on the
Blockchain: Sustainable Solutions for Food, Farmers, and
Financing.”Supply Chain Revolution, Barrow Books.
850 Mavilia and Pisani
Li, X., D. Wang, and M. Li. 2020.“Convenience Analysis of
Sustainable E-Agriculture Based on Blockchain
Technology.”Journal of Cleaner Production 271: 122503.
Lin, W., X. Huang, H. Fang, V. Wang, Y. Hua, J. Wang, H. Yin,
D. Yi, and L. Yau. 2020.“Blockchain Technology in Current
Agricultural Systems: From Techniques to Applications.”
IEEE Access 8: 143920–143937.
Mavilia, R., and R. Pisani. 2018.Management delle nuove tec-
nologie per l’inclusione e l’innovazione sociale. Milan:
EGEA Editore.
Mavilia, R., and R. Pisani. 2019.“Scaling Blockchain for
Agricultural Sector: The Agridigital Case.”Conference
Proceedings ITEMA 2019.https://www.itema-conference.
com/itema-2019-55/
Mavilia, R., and R. Pisani. 2020.“Blockchain and Catching-Up
in Developing Countries: The Case of Financial Inclusion in
Africa.”African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation
and Development 12 (2): 151–163.
Mimm, C. 2018.“Transforming Subsistence Farmers Into
Market-Connected Entrepreneurs.”ICT Update 88: 24.
Motta, G. A., B. Tekinerdogan, and I. N. Athanasiadis. 2020.
“Blockchain Applications in the Agri-Food Domain: The
First Wave.”Frontiers in Blockchain 3: 1–13.
Nakamoto, S. 2008.“Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash
System.”
Nichol, P. B., and J. Brandt. 2016.“Co-Creation of Trust for
Healthcare: The Cryptocitizen Framework for
Interoperability With Blockchain.”Research Proposal.
ResearchGate.
Niforos, M. 2017.“Beyond Fintech: Leveraging Blockchain for
More Sustainable and Inclusive Supply Chains.”
International Finance Corporation (IFC) EM Compass
Note 43: 45–46.
Niknejad, N., W. Ismail, M. Bahari, R. Hendradi, and A. Z.
Salleh. 2020.“Mapping the Research Trends on Blockchain
Technology in Food and Agriculture Industry: A Biblio-
metric Analysis.”Environmental Technology & Innovation
21: February 2021, 101272. 10.1016/j.eti.2020.101272.
Prause, G., and I. Boevsky. 2019.“Smart Contracts for Smart
Rural Supply Chains.”Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural
Science 25 (3): 454–463.
Rijanto, A. 2020.“Business Financing and Blockchain
Technology Adoption in Agroindustry.”Journal of
Science and Technology Policy Management, Vol. ahead-
of-print: 2053–4620.
Salah, K., N. Nizamuddin, R. Jayaraman, and M. Omar. 2019.
“Blockchain-Based Soybean Traceability in Agricultural
Supply Chain.”IEEE Access 7: 73295–73305.
Toulon, N. 2018.“The Blockchain: Opportunities and
Challenges for Agriculture.”ICT Update 88: 8–11.
Tripoli, M., and J. Schmidhuber. 2018.“Emerging Opportunities
for the Application of Blockchain in the Agri-Food
Industry.”FAO and ICTSD: Rome and Geneva. Licence:
CC BY-NC-SA,3.
Xiong, H., T. Dalhaus, P. Wang, and J. Huang. 2020.
“Blockchain Technology for Agriculture: Applications and
Rationale.”Frontiers in Blockchain 3: 7.
Yadav, V. S., and A. R. Singh. 2019.“A Systematic Literature
Review of Blockchain Technology in Agriculture.”
Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial
Engineering and Operations Management, 973–981.
Pilsen, Czech Republic, July 23-26, 2019.
African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development 851
