Meet the blockchain business: AgriLedger

Before starting any business it is vital to identify and evaluate an ongoing problem, a niche in a market to solve. After meticulous research and observation, we recognized that there is a need to refine the transparency in the Global Value Chain. Thus, the idea of AgriLedger fully came together during a Hackathon in London in 2016. With a team of brilliant minds brainstorming, it resulted in creating the concepts and programs of the Blockchain technology, aiming to improve the income and quality of life of smallholder farmers, supporting several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and boosting local economies.

Prior to describing our company, here are some challenges the world is currently facing: According to the OECD, today, more than half of the world manufactured imports are intermediate goods thus, this is a niche in the market that we can solve. In addition, with a market size of roughly $54 trillion per year in the Global Supply Chain industry, the pandemic has presented a unique situation that has impacted the global supply chain tremendously. According to the FAO, an estimation of the world's population will grow to almost 9.1 billion by 2050, which will boost food production and agricultural demand by 70%. Although there are improvements in the agricultural ecosystem, they still face several challenges confronting farmers, stakeholders, streamlining of processes, which serves as a barrier to the adoption of sustainable practices to meet the rising demand. Although processing exists, there is no trust, thus, the supply chain is broken.

As a solution, AgriLedger designs blockchain-based solutions which have ‘empowered farmers by simplifying their access to wider global markets via mobile platforms and to financial services via API linkages with local banks and financial institutions’. The solution supports a high standard of integrity within the agricultural value chain by improving transparency and information flows. The application of blockchain also allows farmers to have access to a wide range of information including relevant weather information, seed provenance, fertilizers used, and crop location. The concepts and programs aim to improve the income and quality of life of smallholder farmers, support several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and boost local economies.

Disinter-mediating the value chain of farmers and allowing for syndication and aggregation of small farmers will level the field increasing profit margins in regions that are currently unbanked. In addition, the built-in financing possibilities of blockchain will enable equalizing income through months where there's no harvest.

AgriLedger works with companies, governments, non-profits, and other organizations to address challenges on a global scale. We have a competitive advantage to others since there is no other player currently offering a solution that provides full traceability of agricultural produce from the first mile to the last mile. We coordinate with farmers, co-operatives, transportation providers, wholesalers, food processing units, cold storage, retailers, seed providers, machinery vendors, and banks. In addition, in China, we have access to the market through an agreement with a local producer and the support of the local provincial government; the on-boarding of the farmers and other stakeholders becomes easier. The credibility of the solution delivered by AgriLedger is enhanced through the provincial government’s endorsement.

The core of AgriLedger’s solution is sector agnostic and can be integrated with multiple suppliers, supply chain partners, and destinations. Therefore, we can work with different sectors and help them to have transparent and reliable supply chains.

Our solution enables full traceability of products from end-to-end, tracking of all related financial obligations, and facilitates the immediate distribution of payments to participating actors. As a response, we bring together the power of Distributed Ledger Technology enhanced with IoT to deliver reportable AI-powered, trustworthy supply chains during the times of crisis. Although processing exists, there is no trust, thus, the supply chain is broken.

AgriLedger are an associate of the Isle of Man Government's Blockchain Accelerator Programme.