Thailand’s Trade Policy Office to Trace Agricultural Products from Farm to Export Using Blockchain

Thailand’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office (TPSO) has revealed its intentions of using blockchain technology to trace agricultural products from farms to export as this will optimize buyers’ confidence. 

The traceability of organic rice will be tested initially, and other agricultural products will follow suit. 

The blockchain system to be deployed will trail the process from cultivation, whereby a camera will be installed in the rice fields to authentic whether it is real organic rice. 

Pimchanok Vonkorpon, TPSO’s director-general, noted that the project will kick off as soon as the office gets the operating funds based on the fiscal 2020 budget. TPSO will also propel discussions with blockchain experts, financial institutions, and related authorities to hasten the development of the blockchain system. 

Vonkorpon asserted: “We already talked with farmers and some 5,000 growers from Surin province will participate in this project,” she said. “We expect that the project will start in the middle of the next year, and if successful, we will extend it to other agricultural products.”

She also added: “This system will help instill confidence in Thai organic rice, reducing problems of buyer’s rejection, product adulteration, and license subrogation in order to increase the bargaining power and add more value to the product, as well as creating opportunities for expanding export markets.” 

The blockchain network will enable buyers to check the source of organic rice, and this will boost their satisfaction and trust levels. 

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