AgriOnBlock: Secured data harvesting for agriculture sector using blockchain technology

Abstract

The existing agriculture system is having several components such as supply chain management, crop insurance, the shipment of goods, and it involves numerous untrusted stakeholders such as users (farmers, retailers, customers, wholesalers, etc.), agencies (bank, insurance company) and regulators (assessor, surveyors). Due to the active engrossment of the middle man (mostly human beings or agencies operated by human beings) some key issues are raised such as transparency, timeliness, traceability, security, and immutability resulting in financial loss, crop contamination, and spoilage. Secure distributed public ledger technology and decentralized computing paradigm make Blockchain an appropriate alternative to resolve these issues and to achieve profitability & trust for all its stakeholders. In this research, we intend to propose a Blockchain-based mechanism viz. AgriOnBlock which would address the issues mentioned in the agriculture sector by connecting various stakeholders through the usage of IoT devices and smart contracts in Ethereum. We further discuss implications, constraints (methodological, awareness related, regulatory, etc.), and potential for actual adoption of AgriOnBlock.