Global charity organization Oxfam has launched a blockchain technology platform aimed toward enhancing the transparency and traceability of the rice provide chain in Cambodia.

Known as BlocRice, the app uses distributed ledger technology to implement sensible contracts wherever details such as the farm gate price of organic rice, trade volume and methodology of transportation are recorded, according to the Khmer Times.

The project which will initially work with 50 rice farmers in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province throughout the first year is anticipated to boost the bargaining power of the participants in negotiations with the buyers of their produce potentially netting them higher costs.

“The application of blockchain technology is anticipated to enhance the negotiation power of small-scale farmers in their rice value chains, who are sometimes poor primary producers,” the country director of Oxfam in Cambodia, Solinn Lim, said.

Additionally, the BlocRice app can connect all the various actors on the supply chain – the farmers, Cambodian rice exporters and Dutch importers – right from the planting season.

“All actors, from the agricultural cooperatives up to [Dutch rice manufacturer] SanoRice, can have a shared, digital contract,” Solinn said. “During the method, from planting to the producing of rice crackers, the chain actors will share information with one another through their shared database powered by blockchain.”

Cashless Payments

During the pilot phase of the project, cashless payments to the farmers also will be introduced and this can be expedited by Cambodia’s biggest local commercial bank in terms of client numbers and assets, Acleda Bank. The participating farmers have already opened accounts with the leading financial institution.

Currently, it's calculable that around 60th of Cambodia’s labor force works in the agricultural sector. Enhancing transparency particularly with regards to prices is thus expected to empower an oversized section of the Cambodian society and improve livelihoods.

While the blockchain pilot is presently restricted to organic rice, in future it might be expanded to different Cambodian agricultural products like cashew nuts, pepper and cassava. Oxfam also expects to expand the amount of farmers signed up to BlocRice from 1,000 by 2020 and 5,000 by 2022.

The Rice Capital of the World?

With Southeast Asia being a significant rice producer, Cambodia isn't the only country that's exploring blockchain technology with a view of benefiting farmers. As reported by CCN last month, Thailand’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) has also indicated that it'll unveil blockchain projects meant to, among different things, increase efficiency in the rice export sector.

“Using blockchain for the process might reduce processing time to less than 3 days, improving transparency and increasing confidence and trust for exporters and foreign importers, benefiting Thai farmers,” the director of TPSO, Pimchanok Vonkorpon, was quoted as saying in October.