Regional research “Agricultural innovations review in Sub-Mekong region countries” in the framework of the project “Network for Agriculture and Rural Development Think-tanks for Countries in Mekong sub-region” – November 2022 - April 2023.

The BlocRice project is facilitated by Oxfam in Cambodia and had begun their pilot run in 2018. This initial idea began from Oxfam Novib in the Netherlands and the BlocRice application was developed by Schuttelaar and Partners. This project incorporates the use of blockchain technology through an application which creates smart contracts and stores information and transactions between actors in the value chain. This blockchain technology arranges three-way digital contracts with cashless payments between primary producers, two agricultural cooperatives in Kulen (Samaki Phnom Pich Borey and Loeuk Kampuos Kasekor agricultural cooperatives), rice exporters (Amru Rice) in Cambodia and manufacturing companies (Sano Rice) in the Netherlands[1].

Previous studies have been conducted on farmers’ livelihoods in Preah Vihear province and it showed that they were living in an income gap of 31% as well as having poor access to materials. There are also issues of unequal distribution of information which affects farmers’ negotiation power due to lack of knowledge on the market price[2]. Thus, the idea behind BlocRice was to improve farmers’ livelihoods and income by monitoring payments and traceability between actors in the value chain, provide access to real time data and information, build trust, and connect consumers to smallholder farmers in order to provide transparency and encourage consumers’ willingness to pay premium price for the products they purchased. Furthermore, the cause of implementing this project stems from the situation of smallholder farmers in Cambodia who face several challenges such as contract violations as well as fluctuation of market price and unreliable payment dates from buyers, specifically middlemen.

Click this link for detail information: Blockchain monitoring organic rice farming model in Cambodia