Indian software company, ByteAlly, partnered with Feed the Future Bangladesh Aquaculture and Nutrition Activity (BANA) to begin trialing a fish-focused blockchain food traceability program in Bangladesh.
BANA has developed a new, high-yield variety of carp (major food fish in the country) that can grow to sellable size in about 18 months instead of 24 leading to a substantial increase in incomes for farmers who raise the new variety. Given BANA's focus on improved nutrition and profitable agriculture to provide it, there is a high interest in moving these fish into the market more quickly. BANA wants to use a blockchain-based food traceability system to track and trace this carp's journey through the value chain to establish trust, manage risk and ensure the quality of the product.
The blockchain food traceability program is scheduled to start during the first week of September, initially involving fish farms, hatcheries and nurseries from Bangladesh’s Jessore district. The second phase will target the marketplace, such as distributors, processors and retailers.
"Productivity, production and profitability will increase through this project. There will be an improvement in relations between value chain actors (hatcheries, nurseries, wholesalers, retailers) to aggregate the purchase of inputs and supply of fish and fish products. The key is to encourage sustainable capacity building in existing value chain actors such as hatcheries and nurseries that will not disappear even at the end of the project," ByteAlly said.
IBM’s Food Trust blockchain is being used, which has already been deployed by multiple firms in tracing various food products, from salmon and berries to olive oil. ByteAlly will be responsible for using IBM food trust blockchain for the blockchain tech. ByteAlly has also built multiple aspects such as a cloud ERP to digitize processes which will act as the data source for blockchain uploads.
Feed the Future is part of the U.S. Government’s hunger and food security initiative, working with countries all around the world to address poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
