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According to Oxfam,
which is the confederation of
20 independent charitable
organizations,
the agriculture
sector employs 60% of
Cambodia's workforce
and many farmers
lack contracts with
their clients.
In April 2018, Oxfam launched
the blockchain project.
Blockchain from livelihoods,
from organic Cambodian rice,
BlocRice, in Cambodia.
It uses smart
contracts to improve
Cambodian small-scale
rice farmers'
bargaining and
negotiating power,
and digitally connect
supply chain participants.
Agriculture cooperatives are
parties to the contracts.
Key parties involved in
the smart contract
include organic farmers
and rice exporters in
Cambodia and buyers based
in the Netherlands.
The term of the contract is that
exporters will pay farmers
the market price plus a premium.
Such a condition would
guarantee a market for
the rice and reduce some
uncertainties for farmers.
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It started with organic
rice farmers in
Preah Vihear province in the
central-north of Cambodia.
The province is known
for organic rice.
Farmers own 1-2 hectares of land
in average and produce
2.5-3 tons per year.
BlocRice Project Phase I
started with 50 farmers
from the Reaksmey cooperative
in one agriculture
community in the province.
Other parties were
rice exporter,
Amru Rice, and rice cake
producer, SanoRice.
The communication consultancy,
Schuttelaar & Partners,
and the Dutch affiliate of
the international
Oxfam organization and
Oxfam Novib facilitated
the process.
By selling directly to SanoRice,
middlemen were eliminated.
The 50 farmers who
participated in
the BlocRice pilot project had
agreed to provide 100
metric tons of rice.
Since a late-season drought
had led to the reduction
of the rice production,
they could deliver
only 92.5 tons.
The shipping took place in
two containers to the
Netherlands in March 2019.
Oxfam outlined
three focus areas:
1. Introduced blockchain
technology to
the organic rice value chain by
registering all
chain actors with
unique identification
codes on blockchain;
2. To introduce a smart
contract between farmers,
their agricultural cooperatives,
exporting companies,
and manufacturing
company to ensure
proper payments
and transparency;
3. To design a consumer
communication component
from the Cambodian
countryside to the retailer.
Smart contract farming.
