The goal of the project is to foster sustained, positive aquaculture sector growth through an inclusive market systems approach.
WorldFish, in partnership with Chennai-based company, ByteAlly Software, has implemented a blockchain traceability system for a new fast-growing variety of carp aquaculture among select participants in Jessore, Bangladesh.
The purpose is to create a traceable environment, including gathering market-relevant data from all aquaculture supply chain participants using mobile and web applications.
Bangladesh Aquaculture Activity (BAA) is a five-year PIO activity (2018-2023) with funding of $24.5 million awarded by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
BAA operates in 21 districts of southwestern Bangladesh and two districts in the southeast.
The BAA sustainably improves the livelihoods of fish farmers and other aquaculture market players by applying a market systems approach.
The aquaculture industry collects a substantial amount of data, but with critical data being relatively inaccessible, the potential to effectively utilize it remains challenging. Blockchain can play a significant role in gathering and analyzing this data.
ByteAlly has performed extensive fieldwork, with a representative visiting 30 farms to learn their day-to-day activity.
This project aims to build trust with market players to leverage clean data, by optimizing supply properly.
Data entry to the application is possible in three levels- brooders, nurseries, and grow-out farms. Training manuals have been developed for all three participants including live support for farmers via phone calls.
ByteAlly recently held a webinar with industry leaders, logistics stakeholders, small organizations, and IT solution businesses to present their key findings.
They also established a forum to get feedback from the industry leaders on their level of interest in blockchain traceability.
They are also developing easy-to-use mobile apps for farmers that will upload data to blockchain systems.
The project expects to reach 1,000 smallholder farmers and other market actors in 2-3 years and 10,000 farms in a 3-5 year period.
“I dream that every aquaculture farmer in Bangladesh receives the correct value for their hard work. I firmly believe that blockchain technology can help us realize that dream,” said Md Imtiaj Haque, senior market system specialist, Bangladesh Aquaculture Activity WorldFish Bangladesh.