During the Kharif season, the department covered seed distribution through blockchain. (Representative)
Jharkhand:
In a significant development that has revolutionized agriculture in the country, Directorate of Agriculture, Jharkhand and global blockchain technology company, Settlemint, India jointly announced the successful launch of seed distribution to farmers based on blockchain technology.
In two years of operations in India, Settlemint has made significant progress and has taken rapid strides towards enabling blockchain adaptation in India. The successful implementation of blockchain based seed distribution to farmers in Jharkhand is a testimony to that effect.
“Jharkhand is the first state in the country to implement Blockchain which is being used to track seed distribution. Blockchain platform tracks seed supply distribution – from issuance of supply orders from Directorate of Agriculture, to seed by District Agriculture Officer By placing demand, tracking seed distribution from empaneled government seed producing agency to distributors, retailers, LAMPS/PACS, FPOs and finally to farmers. The move to implement blockchain is aimed at bringing transparency and authenticity to the seeds that farmers are received under the Seed Exchange Scheme and other schemes.
All the schemes being implemented by Directorate of Agriculture like State Seed Distribution Scheme, NFSM, PMKSY and NHM are envisaged to implement Blockchain technology for tracking the distribution of seeds, inputs, equipment etc.
It will play a vital role in transparent execution of schemes eliminating middlemen as it enables traceability, real-time monitoring and efficient management of schemes.
“The top priority of this government is to provide quality seeds to the farmers at the right time along with filtering out middlemen, identification of beneficiaries and creation of farmers’ database.” Jharkhand Agriculture Director Nesha Oraon said.
Commenting on the development, Shehzad Fatmi, CEO, Settlemint India, said, “We are delighted to partner with Jharkhand as it has become the first state in the country to distribute seeds through blockchain technology. Blockchain is proving to be a game-changer. It is happening. The agriculture sector. It is revolutionizing agricultural supply chains by making them more transparent and traceable.”
Elaborating on the benefits of using blockchain for seed distribution, Oraon said, “It will enable timely availability of seeds to distributors, retailers and most importantly farmers. The number is registered in the blockchain system. After the OTP is entered in the registered mobile number of the farmer concerned, the seed distribution system is logged in. The objective of implementing the blockchain is to enable the distribution of seeds and other schemes in a transparent manner The platform provides information on actual- activities like LAMPS/PACS/FPO-wise seed distribution to farmers in different districts, quantity/variety of seed being procured by farmers, number of times the seed is being purchased by the farmer, etc. Through the use of Blockchain for monitoring of ICOs on a time-based basis, the state envisions to create a robust farmer database which can be used to enhance the distribution of various agriculture and horticulture schemes. Along with this, the proof of the Aadhaar number of the farmers There are plans to enable e-KYC for the loan.”
Jharkhand State has become the first state in the country to implement a production-grade blockchain-based seed distribution program by implementing a blockchain solution. The state is committed to invest in all stakeholders, i.e. supplies, distributors and farmers in their training and adoption of technology.
Every year, the Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperation distributes 300+ seed varieties of 30+ crops during both Kharif and Rabi seasons at subsidized rates to the farmers.
During the current Kharif season, the department has completely covered the seed distribution of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and of course cereals through blockchain technology. Till date, more than 3 lakh farmers, 600 LAMPS/PACS/Private Distributors and 160 FPOs have been registered on the platform.
About 30k quintals of seed have been distributed: Due to the current drought-like situation, the total seed distribution for this Kharif season is estimated to be around 35k to 40k quintals. As blockchain adoption multiplies, the entire seed distribution process will become piracy-free, allowing farmers to verify the variety and quantity received through their app.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)