Improving Farmers’ Participation in Agri Supply Chains with Blockchain and Smart Contracts

Abstract

Farmers are inhibited from Agri supply chains due to upfront transaction costs. There is ample evidence that farmers' participation in supply chains produce benefits for farmers. This paper analyses how blockchain might support farmers to reduce transaction costs and improve their involvement in supply chains by reviewing the literature. The study contributes some theoretical insights to our knowledge on how transaction costs can be reduced by implementing supply chain collaboration with blockchain technology. It further presents some design implications for a blockchain-enabled system that would also support collective marketing. Practitioners in the Agri domain can use this analysis as a support for developing a system that improves farmers' participation in Agri supply chains.