Jharkhand becomes first state to distribute seed to farmers through blockchain tech

RANCHI, 22 August 2022: In a significant development which would revolutionize 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 the two years of operations in India, SettleMint has made significant progress and took rapid strides towards the enablement of blockchain adaption in India. The successful implementation of blockchain based seed distribution to farmers in Jharkhand is a testimony to that effect.

"Jharkhand is 1st state to implement blockchain in the country which is being used to track seed distribution. The blockchain platform tracks seed supply distribution-from issuing of supply orders from the Directorate of Agriculture, placing of seed demand by District Agriculture Officer, tracking seed distribution from empanelled government seed producing agency to distributors, retailers, LAMPS/PACS, FPOs and finally to the farmers. The move to implement blockchain is aimed at bringing transparency and authenticity of seeds which the farmers receive under the seed exchange scheme and other schemes."

It is envisioned to implement blockchain technology for tracking distribution of seeds, inputs, implements etc under all the schemes being implemented by Directorate of Agriculture like State Seed Distribution Scheme, NFSM, PMKSY, NHM. This will play a crucial role in the transparent execution of schemes while doing away with middlemen as it enables traceability, real time monitoring and efficient management of the schemes.

"It is the utmost priority of this government to make quality seeds available to the farmers at the right time, along with filtering of middlemen, identification of the beneficiaries and creation of farmers' database." Jharkhand Agriculture Director Ms. Nesha Oraon said.

Commenting on the development, Shahzad Fatmi, CEO, SettleMint India, said, "We are delighted to partner with Jharkhand as it become the first state in the country to distribute seeds through blockchain technology. Blockchain is proving to be a game-changer in the agricultural sector. It is revolutionizing agrarian supply chains by making them more transparent and traceable."

Elaborating on the benefits of using blockchain for seed distribution, Ms. Oraon added "This will enable timely availability of seeds to distributors, retailers and most importantly, the farmers. Each farmer is first being registered in the block chain system along with their Aadhar card number and mobile number. Seed distribution is logged into the system after entry of OTP in the registered mobile number of the concerned farmer. The objective of implementing blockchain is to enable distribution of seed and other schemes in a transparent manner. The platform provides information on real time basis to monitor activities like LAMPS/PACS/FPO-wise seed distribution to farmers in different districts, quantity/variety of seed being purchased by farmers, no. of times seed is being purchased by a farmer, etc. Through use of blockchain, the state envisions to create a robust farmers' database which can be used to enhance the delivery of various agriculture and horticulture schemes and enable micro monitoring of every district in the state. Along with this, it is planned to enable e KYC for authentication of aadhar number of farmers" she further added.

By implementing the blockchain solution the state of Jharkhand has become the first state in the country to deploy a production grade blockchain based seed distribution program. The state is committed to onboard all stakeholders, i.e., supplies, distributors, and farmers, invest in their training and adoption of technology. 

Every year, the Department of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Co-operative distributes 300+ seed varieties of 30+ crops during both Kharif and Rabi season to the farmers at subsidized rate. 

During the current kharif season, the department has covered seed distribution of cereals, pulses, oilseeds and course cereals completely via block chain technology. As on date more than 3 lakh farmers, 600 LAMPS/PACS/Private distributors and 160 FPOs have been registered on the platform. 

Around 30k quintals of seeds have been distributed: due to current drought like situation, total seed distribution is estimated to be around 35k to 40k quintals for this kharif season. As the adoption of blockchain increases manifold, the whole seed distribution process will be pilferage free allowing the farmers to confirm via their app the variety and quantity received.