New Technology to Streamline Purchase and Distribution

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state has decided to leverage blockchain technology to streamline the purchase and distribution networks of milk, vegetables and fish. The state will also make its crop insurance scheme smarter and fool-proof, ensuring quick processing and settlement of claims to farmers suffering crop losses.

The country's first such government initiative, the project is being implemented through the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC), the state's think-tank mandated to formulate and implement path-breaking plans to create a healthy and conducive ecosystem with the help of new technologies.

"In the dairy sector, the project will ensure speedy delivery of high quality milk by continuously monitoring production, procurement and distribution through an electronic ledger," said K-DISC chairman K M Abraham. Each component of the supply network will have a separate ID number, using which the source and quality of the product can be checked at every point of the chain. New technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) will be employed and RFID tags and mobile applications will be used to monitor the movement of trucks and refrigerated tanks to make sure that they adhere to fixed parameters like temperature in which the products are to be kept.

Blockchain technology in crop insurance would help avoid time lag in the assessment and delivery of compensation to farmers who suffer losses due to natural calamities. It will make the entire processes starting from making applications for coverage to the settlement of claims hassle-free. The new technology will come in handy to determine if the crop loss is due to natural causes or not, which, in turn, will avoid unnecessary disputes between insurance firms and beneficiaries besides eliminating the role of middlemen.

Supply of vegetables and fish is a key area where the new technology is to be introduced, where farms and fish-landing spots will be linked with packaging centres using geo-coded images, with the help of which the content of each packet can be weighed and registered in the supply network with QR Code and RFID.