This Is How Kenya Will Use Blockchain To Curb Food Crisis

For many people, blockchain technology is associated with bitcoin, there are so many uses for the technology beyond the cryptocurrency. Now, Kenya is planning to use blockchain technology to boost food security which is one of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda.

According to Joe Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology, the government will leverage on the Artificial Intelligence technology to track agricultural produce from end-to-end from seeds to marketplace.

The ICT Minister said that the government will use a citizen service to track the origin of food products and report unsafe food products.

He said that blockchain technologies are expected to be disruptive and change the way business is conducted in Kenya.

“They promise to enhance public service delivery while promoting efficiency in the private sector by streamlining supply chains,” he added. 

He made the sentiments while receiving a report from the distributed ledgers technology and artificial intelligence task force, which was created in 2018, to develop a roadmap for emerging technologies that will define the evolving fourth industrial revolution.

He further noted that blockchain technology can be used to tackle Kenya’s major problems like corruption, land fraud and election fraud.

“Blockchain and AI provide an unprecedented level of integrity, security, and reliability to the information it manages, reducing the risks associated with having a single point of failure,” he said.

The Chairperson of the taskforce, Bitange Ndemo noted that blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies could be used to transform key sectors in Kenya, including healthcare, agriculture, education, and government services. 

“The improved efficiency, transparency, and accountability of blockchain can considerably benefit government services in which several emerging markets struggle with inefficient legacy infrastructures and an inability to provide citizens with fast, accountable and transparent service delivery,” Ndemo said. 

The report will be presented to the cabinet for approval before the implementation of the recommendations begins.

Similarly, the United Nations announced plans to launch blockchain programs to curb world hunger and researching ways the technology could help disenfranchised populations, the first large-scale ethereum test was launched in Jordan.