Rice farmers in Cambodia suffer from unfair pricing to their harvests. Oxfam, a non-profit organization, might have the solution for farmers, which is tracking harvests, prices and transportation via blockchain, the Blocrice, Nikkei Asian Review reports.
In the region of Preah Vihear, northern Cambodia, pilot testing has been started. Fifty organic rice farmers are signing in for the program.
Blocrice will build transparent and safe bridges between farmers and customers by promoting contract farming. It will regulate prices, volume, transportation, and all related variables. Once all set, they will be fixed on the blockchain platform.
Every three out of five workforces in Cambodia is agriculture-related and very few of them have proper agreements with buyers. They are unaware of the current market prices and already carrying a heavy burden of different loans on their shoulders. They are being paid very unfairly.
Cambodia country director of Oxfam, Solinn Lim, believes that with Blocrice farmers will have a chance. Market prices will be the reference to contracts and buyers will take care of the transportation. "Blocrice will give them (farmers) a platform to empower themselves," Lim said.
Depending on the success of the pilot project, Oxfam is planning to expand the system to the whole country and include different products such as maize, pepper and cashew nuts.
Fairtrade could improve Cambodian rice’s reputation among western buyers as well. Blocrice system will give a standard where it will be possible to trace the rice to the farms and their trading conditions.
One of the major buyers of Cambodian rice is China with a 500,000-ton goal for 2019.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
- Buyers, transporters are taking advantage of farmers who are unaware of the market. The current system leaves the farmers poor, but middlemen rich. Blocrice could bring balance into this.
- With a blockchain-based system, every transport, every sale can be tracked and fair trade will be promoted.
- Expanding this system to other products and regions can result in a fairer market with potentially more realistic prices.