A Framework for Improving Agri-Food Supply Chain with Blockchain Technology

Abstract

The increasingly complex supply chain in today’s era faces significant challenges regarding traceability and transparency. Food safety, quality, susceptibility to fraud and adulteration, and the discrepancy between the farmers' selling price and actual price, etc. are major challenges around the globe today, there are variety of food products are available in the market, and becomes difficult for people to recognize authenticated product and their cost. Therefore, it is very important to track and trace the entire product history from production to consumer. This concern can be alleviated by using blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is a revolutionary decentralized ledger technology that plays a pivotal role in transforming traditional processes, particularly in industries like supply chain, food supply chain and agrifood supply chain. Blockchain technology is interconnected with a series of blocks, each containing a secure record of transactions. Within the realm of agri-food supply chain, blockchain addresses inherent challenges by providing an immutable and transparent ledger, enhancing visibility and traceability, and allowing stakeholders to track the journey of food products from source to destination. The decentralized and tamper-resistant nature of blockchain mitigates risks related to fraud, adulteration, and unauthorized alterations to critical information. Moreover, by reducing reliance on intermediaries, blockchain fosters a more efficient and equitable distribution of profits, benefiting primary producers. It is a transformative force that empowers the agri-food supply chain with tools to overcome challenges, fostering a more resilient, transparent, and sustainable ecosystem. This thesis primarily focused on a comprehensive analysis of the challenges, such as economic, marketing and technological, that are inherent in the conventional agri-food supply chain. The study uses advanced CB-SEM (Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modeling) technique through Smart PLS 4 by gathering opinions, perceptions, and experiences from stakeholders within the agri-food supply chain, to provide a nuanced understanding of the issues faced by the agri-food supply chain sector. In spite of these challenges, this thesis is dedicated to bridging the gap in blockchain adoption, a technology that is still in its nascent stage in India. Before delving into adoption strategies, it is imperative to thoroughly analyze the capabilities of blockchain technology and the relationships that underpin its potential impact. Therefore, this study adopted a mixed-method approach encompassing qualitative and quantitative study. Initially, the opinions of blockchain experts is collected using interview-based techniques, and thematic analysis is used to finalize vi the five capabilities namely traceability, transparency, transaction, information security, and trust and quality of blockchain-enabled agri-food supply chain. The finalized five capabilities are modeled using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) to provide the contextual relationship. Following a thorough examination of blockchain capabilities within expert domains, it becomes crucial to gauge the perspectives of stakeholders regarding the adoption of this technology in agri-food supply chains. A conceptual model of extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is crafted to explore the sentiments of stakeholders, including farmers and government officials, towards the prospective adoption of blockchain technology. The study rigorously assesses the proposed model using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and leveraging the analytical capabilities of Smart PLS 4 software The findings reveal a positive inclination among stakeholders towards embracing blockchain technology in the agri-food supply chain sector. This empirical validation underscores the potential acceptance and endorsement of blockchain solutions by those integral to the industry, paving the way for informed decision-making and strategic implementations. At last, secure and traceable blockchain-based framework has been proposed using Ethereum platform. Smart contracts have been developed to provide traceability and transparency of food products across the agri-food supply chain. All the transactions are recorded in the immutable nature of blockchain ledgers with links to a decentralized file system. The proposed framework eliminates the need for a third party, creates trust among stakeholders, provides transaction records, and enhances safety and efficiency with high integrity, reliability, and security. Additionally, a security analysis is conducted, which further reinforces the robustness and reliability of the proposed framework. The proposed framework is immune to potential security vulnerabilities such as Integer Underflow, Integer Overflow, Parity Multisig Bug 2, Callstack Depth Attack Vulnerability, Transaction-Ordering Dependence (TOD), Timestamp dependency and Re-Entrancy Vulnerability.