A Blockchain-Based Framework for Developing Traceability Applications towards Sustainable Agriculture in Vietnam

Abstract

Recently, many governments in the world have been focusing on building sustainable agriculture to improve the life quality of farmers and significantly increase their income. In Vietnam, however, the farmers still face the problems of “good harvest–low prices, and vice versa” and lack capital for scaling or transforming the production model. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon is that the price of agricultural products does not depend on farmers’ efforts but is based on the purchase price of the trader or the market price. Besides, the farmers also maintain farming habits based on regional culture or follow trendy and profitable agricultural products. Those production strategies make this type of product oversupplied, leading to a down in price shortly, so the farmers’ income will decrease. The above problems stem from the lack of information and communication tools between actors in the agricultural value chain, especially between cooperatives, farmers, and consumers. This paper presents a Blockchain-based framework for developing a traceability solution as an effective method of communication between actors in the agricultural value chain toward a sustainable agricultural model. The proposed approach helps to fully convey the production and distribution of agricultural products and the ability to verify traceability information, thereby helping to increase prices and protect the brand of agricultural products.