Paper No: SC 16
A Blockchain-based decentralized system to ensure the transparency of organic
food supply chain
B. M. A L. Basnayake
Department o f Industrial Management,
University o f Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
basnayake.bmal@gmail.com
Abstract
Low quality agricultural products are added to the
market daily. Over usage o f chemicals in the production
process, use of uncertified chemicals and mechanisms for
preservation and ripening processes, are the major
issues that impact on agricultural product’s quality as
well as overall health o f the consumers. Mechanisms to
identify the quality o f the agricultural products are
highly demanded due to the lack o f transparency in the
current process. Blockchain technology is emerging as a
decentralized and secure infrastructure which can
replace involvement o f a third party to verify the
transactions within the system. The purpose o f the
research was to implement a Blockchain based solution
to verify the food quality and the origin o f the
agricultural supply chain. A public Blockchain concept
was selected instead o f a private Blockchain in this study
to ensure transparency by allowing any person to access
the network. Instances o f the smart contract were created
fo r each physical product and deployed to Blockchain
network. A Quick Response code which contained the
address o f the instance, was a reference to the virtual
product. All the actors who are involved in the supply
chain must be able to interact with the system to achieve
the transparency. Each transaction and events related to
a product is validated by peers o f the Blockchain system.
Product ownership was changed fo r each relevant
transaction. A token-based mechanism was used to
indicate the farmers ’ reputation with their products.
Farmers could place a certification request regarding
their products and, they can gain reputation tokens fo r
each certification done by peers. A unique Quick
Response code was used to identify each product within
the supply chain. The proposed system has been
implemented as a prototype and validated within the
study.
Keywords: Agriculture, Supply chains, Food security
Smart Computing and Systems Engineering, 2019
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Smart Computing
C. Rajapakse
Department o f Industrial Management,
University o f Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
chathura@kln.ac.lk
1. Introduction
The applicability of Blockchain concept to the
agricultural supply chain to verify the origin and quality
of the agricultural products was considered for this study.
The Customers are not satisfied with the quality of the
agricultural products that they are consuming due to the
presence of synthetic agricultural chemicals in the agro
products.
Production of the organic foods is adequate to fulfill
market demand [1] and a mechanism for product
certification is required. Thus demand for the carbonic
foods and products with health certifications are
increasing due to the current global health issues. Due to
lack of transparency of existing certification mechanisms,
consumers are reluctant to trust these mechanisms.
Hence preparing a transparent and efficient
architecture for food certification was the purpose of the
study, by combining trusted certification system utilizing
Blockchain concept and other technologies. A proof-of-
concept has been constructed and tested in this paper.
1.1. Organic agriculture industry
With the drastic environmental pollution due to
agrochemicals and their effect on human health, demand
for the organic products is increased. Incensement of
global demand and new market, premium price in local
and export market and increment of farmers’ income by
30-100% are the inspiring factors for the farmers to
involve in the organic food industry [2].
Sri Lanka has introduced a vast variety of organic
products such as organically certified tea, spices,
essential oils, herbs, desiccated coconut, oil seeds, pulses,
cashew, rubber, tropical fruits and vegetables [3].
1.2. Agricultural supply chain
Agricultural supply chain varies for each product.
Each product/crop has a unique flow within the process.
Value addition or formation processes may be taken
place within the supply chain. Lot of waste, damage,
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being unable to verify origin can be occurred when
products reach the customer end point
--- λ
^
Surplus/ low quality
farmer/producer
V
t applications in the international logistics to reduce the
><t------------------------- 1 supplier/ mediator
Surplus/ low quality14-
Consumer
Figure 1. Current Food supply chain in Sri Lanka.
Figure 1 describes the agricultural supply chain in
brief. Damaged or low quality products are issued to the
local market at low price or same price, in relation to
non-organic products [4].
1.3. Food certification
Organic farmers are certified under several
certifications within Sri Lanka. SLGAP (Agricultural
Department, Sri Lanka), Control Union (Netherlands),
IMO (Switzerland), NASAA (Australia), EcoCert
(Germany), etc.[5]
Agro land details, soil, water supply, seeds, history of
the land, crop, disease and control etc. are considered
when issuing the certification [6]. These certifications are
updated seasonally. Certifications can be misused to sell
products from third parties or low quality products
because only the farmers are certified, not the products.
Most of the regular relationships between farmers and
consumers, farmers and mediators depended on pre­
experience and trust.
2. Literature review
In 2008, [7] published a white-paper on use of Bitcoin
as a peer to peer Electronic Cash System. Initially, the
Blockchain concept was applied in financial services.
With the invention of first digital currency Bitcoin as
the first Blockchain platform, requirement of trusted
authority or central server to avoid double spending1 of
1 Double-spending is a problem unique to digital currencies because
digital information can be reproduced relatively easily [10]
Smart Computing and Systems Engineering, 2019
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
currency was solved. Later on, Blockchain concept
derived to other areas more than implementation as a
currency in Bitcoin. With the emergence of second
generation, Blockchain applications were derived to
many fields. Supply chain is a key area where
Blockchain concept is widely applied.
The Danish shipping company Maersk the world’s
largest container carrier, tested the use of Blockchain
paper work in shipping and container tracking [8].
1
2.1. Flaws in centralized systems
Consumer trust, supply chain transparency, product
quality, logistic issues, environmental impact, personal
consumer data, fraud, food safety, etc. are the reliability
issues which are faced by current supply chains.
Consumers request greater transparency and information
but current systems cannot provide such data. Most of the
cases, information is audited by third parties, and records
are stored in paper or centralized databases. This
approach causes some problems mentioned below.
• High cost and inefficiency of paper based processes.
• Frauds, security errors in IT systems
• Integrity of digital records
• Misuse of paper certifications
These problems result in low transparency and trust.
With the usage of Blockchain based platform,
mechanisms such as smart contracts, decentralized
database and proof-of-works ensured the security and
transparency of supply chain [9].
2.2. Food tracking
Tracking mechanisms are dependent on the
products/items which were exchanged within the supply
chain. Customers were willing to pay additional costs to
attach IoT devices to track the location of the product
when they are high cost products. Heavy vehicles and
high cost machines were attached with IoT devices to
track locations. Product types like pharmaceutical items,
foods, etc. were tracked in bulk. In most cases, containers
were tracked instead of each item. In South Africa,
Blockchain was applied to grape supply chains to interact
between farmers, certifiers, auditors and grape traders
through the assistance of digital certified grape boxes.
Each box was identified by a unique barcode number and
the ownership of the box was changed for each
transaction [9].
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3. Methodology
Figure 2. Overview of user interaction.
In the development process of the DApp described in
Figure 2, Token model, Solidity based smart transaction
model and QR code generation model to validate
products were developed. Based on the developed
DApp, applicability of Blockchain concept in the
agricultural supply chain was tested. QR codes were used
as the link layer between digital and physical world.
Figure 3. Production process validation.
Food production process and events such as water
supply source, land history, pest control, fertilizer usage,
packaging, etc. were identified in data collection and
systematic review of literature. Furthermore, persons
who can validate each process/event were identified. For
each event/process, farmer can place a request, and peer
farmers, agricultural officers or related persons should
validate the request to gain reputation. Each event was
recorded in Blockchain after the validation process.
Figure 3 describes the certification/validation process for
each event.
Smart Computing and Systems Engineering, 2019
Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Figure 4. Overview architecture for Blockchain based
supply chain.
Ethereum smart contracts were used to develop DApp
which was connected to the Blockchain system. Only
farmers were eligible to deploy “product” contract to
indicate physical product. Farmers should have sufficient
amount of reputation level to issue a product contract to
control the quality of each product. For each deployment
of the “product” contract, it will return an address which
was used to generate the QR code to identify the physical
product. Figure 4 depicts how virtual product was
validated with physical product using QR code. For each
transaction within the supply chain, user’s address has
been added to the “product” solidity contract as product
owners. Consumers could scan the QR code using a
mobile application that enables access to the Blockchain
system. Consumers are also eligible to rate the product
quality to ensure the trust.
4. Implementation
Solidity classes were compiled into two parts as
Application Binary Interface (ABI) and Byte Code by
solidity compiler. Encoding and decoding solidity smart
contract calls into data and machine code were used in
Application Binary Interface. Compiled smart contracts
were deployed to Blockchain network using web3.js and
a hexadecimal address was returned when deployment
occurs.
Business logic and the user actions were governed by
solidity smart contracts. A new season was created by
farmers to the network and they were governed by
‘Campaign’ class. Issuing of products was governed by
‘Products’ Solidity class and products were deployed
only by the farmers. Only a product owner was given the
authority to end the transaction at any point of the supply
chain. Products would not be sold which contain its
transaction state as 'true'.
105
 System generated Quick Response (QR) code contains
the address of the product, returned from the network
when a product was deployed to the system by the
farmer.

Process Summary

0x90b45 If 31032ADc 36eB3f0d 0

A$4Cc5b573928681B
Addrsss o'Fermer You mu*t contrbut· et leettthii muchw«l
The men*··» treated tlWtcofnpetgnand to bvwm tm approver
a n create requests to withdrew money

Figure 5. Implemented system.

Figure 7. Summary of the season.
Ganache test client was run on port 8545. MetaMask
extensions were connected to Ganache test client using Summary of a particular season has been generated
Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). Application was run on from data which was fetched from deployed smart
port 3000 and users could connect to application on contracts as shown in Figure 7.
http://172.16.44.225:3000. Figure 5 describes the
implemented system architecture.

5. Testing and validation

Product history could be identified by owner’s data
which was added to smart contracts within each
transaction. Smart contract was updated with new owners
and its state whether it was sold out or not. Smart
contracts were publicly available in the network and data
was available to everyone. User interface to view product Figure 8. Event/ production process validation.
details is displayed in Figure 6.
Events/procresses were publicly available to the peers
for approval. Events/processes would be finalized when
0x5306d6a07DcCaa32B5e0257272F5C719aDC773a9
O w ners 1 accepted by peers. Event/process was open to anyone to
be accepted, till it was finalized by the farmer. These
0x5306d6a07DcCaa32B5e0257272F5C719aDC773a9 functionalities were shown in Figure 8. Block creation
Owners 2
can be identified in Figure 9 and Figure 10.

0x99A445bc88Dd3ed 126c7166972A2DB 15557E32ba Tra n s a c tio n : 0xb99fd081df52c41640a7432382fe870d475b3fe292e62a737-F817818c884f264

Owners 3 C ontract c re a te d : 0xdd5f7245e691536017dll8300349f5728767b8-Fb
Gas usage: 1522522
B lock Number: 1

0xaAc8b2AFc253EeAD9d5a6236bB77B6461Ee90d0F Figure 9. Block creation.

Owners 4

Prducts New trasaction has been deployed to the network and

thesse data were added to new block.

Transaction: 0x582c5aa88afB12e9389c8a8f2cee6e9cleldbaî7ff3e2f4673b6539670f40a56
Gas usage: 1101828
Block Number: 2

FigurelO. Blockcreation.
Trat Action

Figure 6. Product description.

Smart Computing and Systems Engineering, 2019

Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. 106
6. Conclusion
This study is based on the applicability of Blockchain
concept to improving transparency and validity of
agricultural supply chain and its process. Since recent
past, there has been a rapid change in the production of
food and its raw materials. An efficient method to bridge
the gap between the farmer producing commodities in the
market and the end customer was studied. Blockchain
based architecture and its concepts were taken for
implanting trustworthiness and transparency within the
users and their transactions.
Identified business logic in literature review were
implemented using smart contracts. It was sufficient to
control business logic within the transactions and other
events which were related to food production. Quick
Response (QR) code was identified as a cost effective
and practical solution to identify each food product
within the supply chain from farm to end consumer.
Quick Response codes were generated including the
address of the product, returned by the Blockchain
network when products were deployed to the network.
Smart contract's address can be given by scanning QR
code. Address could be used to fetch data directly from
the Blockchain network without depending on the
application layer. High availability of data was ensured
using this approach.
In a typical transaction, trust was built by involving a
third party to regulate the rules between users. Trust was
decentralized among all peers in the network by
Blockchain network. Money was received to smart
contracts by farmers when farmers deployed a new
season. Approvers were given money when events and
processes were being validated. Each process and event
were validated by a participant of the network. All the
transactions were tested within Ganache test network and
data were stored in a Blockchain. Thus, trust and
transparency were successfully ensured by the proposed
mechanism.
7. References
[1] Rosairo, H. S. R., “ARE ORGANIC VEGETABLES A
MARKETING FAILURE IN SRI LANKA?,” no. September,
pp. 15-25,2006.
[2] OTA, “Organic Industry Survey in U.S,” May 19, 2016,
2016. [Online], Available: https://www.ota.com/news/press-
releases/19031
[3] “Organic Products in Sri Lanka|Organic Agriculture.”
[Online], Available: http://www.srilankabusiness.com/organic/.
[Accessed: 09-Jul-2018],
[4] “ôgO ô œ aaa® ç © Srf
[5] “Sri Lankan Organic Products Certification|Organic
Agricultural Product Standards.” [Online], Available:
http://www.srilankabusiness.com/organic/organic-certification-
in-sri-lanka.html. [Accessed: 09-Jul-2018],
[6] “GAP.” [Online], Available: http://slgap.lk/. [Accessed: 09-
Jul-2018],
[7] Nakamoto, S., “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash
System.”
[8] Groenfeldt, T., “IBM And Maersk Apply Blockchain To
Container Shipping,” Forbes, 2017. [Online], Available:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomgroenfeldt/2017/03/05/ibm-
and-maersk-apply-blockchain-to-container-
shipping/#7652eccb3f05. [Accessed: 13-Jun-2018],
[9] Ge, L., Brewster, C., Spek, J., Smeenk, A., and Top, J.,
Findings from the pilot study Blockchain fo r Agriculture and
Food. 2017.
[10] “Double-Spending Definition | Investopedia.” [Online],
Available:
https://www.investopedia.eom/terms/d/doublespending.asp.
[Accessed: 13-Jun-2018],

6.1 Recommendation

Ethereum Geth client should be used for

implementing a local private network and establishing a
peer-to-peer network with each nodes. It is possible to
connect Geth client to online Ethereum network such as
ropsten, kovan Rinkeby main network etc. but with low
computational power and storage limitations, it is not
recommended. Connecting web3.js to third party
provider like Infura is recommended to avoid these
limitations.

Smart Computing and Systems Engineering, 2019

Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. 107