In 2018, the
technology arm of Chinese web insurer ZhongAn was developing a blockchain
platform, to track the provenance of chicken. It became the first Chinese
company that joined the blockchain projects aimed at improving China’s food
safety records, as in past the country has been hit by series of scandals
involving contaminated produce and supply chain fraud. After, being introduced
last year, blockchain technology is now being adopted by many local vendors and
large enterprises in the country. Recently, at Zhejiang Agriculture Fair in
China, the visitors got the opportunity to witness a local vendor Taishun
Mountain Gardenia showcasing” running chicken”, which is sold after they run a
million steps.
The idea behind
the collection of information about the bird on a blockchain is to allow the
buyers to view the growth cycle and living environment of each chicken. Chinese poultry farming has been long accused
of raising the birds in an unhealthy environment. This included cramping the
chicken in small cages and using antibiotics to boost their growth. The
blockchain technology employed in poultry will deal with this concern by
providing the consumer with accurate data that the chicken was raised in a
healthy environment.
The lifecycle
detail stored on the blockchain could include the type of feed, medical
information, and details of the farm on which the chicken was raised. This
technology will not just help in rebuilding the trust of Chinese and
international consumers on domestic poultry but will also fulfill the
initiative of food traceability, which is gathering attention in China. The
technology has already been employed by VeChain, which is helping Wal-Mart
China to track food.
The greatest
benefit that can be enjoyed by Chinese poultry farmers by employing blockchain
technology is the lower cost achieved through greater efficiency, lower
transaction cost and better access to information. The security provided by the
system allows safe and quick payments, eliminating the need for third-party
payment processing. Moreover, the visibility of the blockchain improves pricing
transparency especially for small farmers in regions that have not previously
access to global pricing. The technology can also speed up the movement of
poultry through the supply chain network, and allow fast removal of animals
that have been diagnosed with some disease. Blockchain technology can save the
farmers from the impacts of epidemics, as timely information about the bird can
be utilized for prevention.