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The Possibility of Making Organic Foods Globally Accessible through Blockchain Technology
The food industry is undeniably one of the largest industries in the world. With the massive growth the industry sees every year, as at 2017 the global food and agriculture industry was valued at about 8.1 trillion in dollars getting quality food is still largely a problem which remains to be solved. The bulk of the problem is not in the shortage of food supply but in the quality of good food available for consumption.
Modern or new ways of farming which range from genetically engineered animals to using chemicals such as pesticides and other methods of improving crop and livestock yields have not helped matters. The problems are replete which include but not limited to health problems, hazards to biodiversity in this time of endangered species, and of course reduction in the potential yield of the soil itself.
Organic farming has shown that many of these health problems and imbalance on the ecosystem can be comfortably taken care of quite naturally if we resort to this style and method of agriculture. Sadly, percentage of organic foods in the global food industry is so small, valued at $90 billion from 1999 to 2016 which is just a paltry 1.1% of the total value of the global food industry. This stunted growth in organic food supply emanates from the myriads of challenges that militate against the boom of the organic food production system. Big organizations out there who are bent on raking in the billions but care less about the effect of genetically engineered foods and their accompanied methods of production do almost anything to maintain the status quo.
Well of course, as many as the problems plaguing our world is, so are the possible solutions to reduce and eradicate these problems. This is actually what the Green World Farm project seeks to achieve this is well articulated in their revolutionary idea of making organic food very much popular and accessible globally through its adoption of the blockchain technology to bringing about value chain expansion.
How has GWF proposed to solve this problem using blockchain? Reading through their whitepaper they have a clear cut strategy of leveraging on the smart contract option under the Ethereum blockchain. The need for a trustless system is well taken care of with the smart contract system. Breach of trust and contracts which affects farmers can be well taken care of using this smart contract model as farmers can start producing without delay or concerns for payment immediately after entering into an agreement with buyers of their produce knowing fully well that their payment is guaranteed as it’s been managed under the Ethereum smart contracts system. Blockchain offers a means for farmers to contract with sellers to grow what is needed. Full or partial payment can go into escrow immediately to guarantee payment to the farmer without breach of contract and coercion by marketers. Getting paid for labour is a big challenge in the farming world, and Blockchain can alleviate part of that through smart contracts.
Having checked through the amazing idea and the fact that they have ready farms and the farmers from an agricultural rich nation like Nigeria with a known reputation of high quality yield of agricultural produce due to its very fertile soil and good climatic condition which favours farming, and of course the fact that the US farms will become operational in the near future as the project progresses along its roadmap, making the global market for organic food even more accessible, I think the GWF project is one project to keep a close eye on and perhaps invest in their ICO which starts on May 14, 2018 12pm UTC and ends on July 14, 2018 11pm UTC
You can get more information about this project through their social channels
