Blockchain Technology in Post-Covid Agriculture

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic poses great challenges to the resilience of global agriculture in response to disasters or crises. The pandemic mitigation measures prevent the spread of coronavirus but bring disruptions to the agriculture sector. Smallholder farmers and small agricultural producer particularly showed their vulnerability to these disruptions amid the pandemic. Technology innovations can be adopted to develop resilient, flexible and inclusive agriculture. Blockchain enables autonomous and decentralized coordination of trust in a distributed network without any trusted third-party intermediaries that can vastly reduce the transaction costs of exchange and trade. This paper examines the viable applications of blockchain technology in enhancing the resilience of agriculture and the food supply chain, facilitating trades and financing, and driving value allocation from a perspective of institutional economics.