A PEST study of sustainable e-agriculture in the context of blockchain： Perspective of supply chain management innovation

doi:10.14088/j.cnki.issn0439-8114.2023.01.034

Abstract

Abstract: Eco-agriculture is an important approach to achieve sustainable development. In any country, agriculture is considered the most critical sector concerning socioeconomic development. However, the traditional agriculture supply chain severely suffers from many shortcomings, such as fraud, corruption, and information falsification. The emerging blockchain technology involving a distributed database system with multiple independent nodes exhibits many advantages, including data security and transparent traceability systems, resulting in a recent shift in the traditional agriculture model with increasing blockchain technology development. The sustainable eco-agriculture supply chain offers a key avenue for the agriculture industry to conceptualize sustainable economic activities with a concern for environmental sustainability and societal well-being. To advance the application of such technology in agriculture, either practically or theoretically, the present study conducted a PEST （political, economic, social, and technological） analysis concerning blockchain technology application in different processes from the perspective of sustainable agriculture supply management. Through this analysis, combined with three agricultural blockchain cases, blockchain-enabled eco-agriculture revealed a great development potential in China. Simultaneously, certain obstacles and challenges remained and needed to be addressed by the government （either central or local）, enterprises and individuals.

Key words: agriculture, supplychain, blockchain, sustainability

CLC Number:

F323

ZHAI Yi-meng. A PEST study of sustainable e-agriculture in the context of blockchain： Perspective of supply chain management innovation[J]. HUBEI AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, 2023, 62(1): 196-201.

References

[1] TIAN F.An agri-food supply chain traceability system for China based on RFID & blockchain technology[A]. 2016 13th international conference on service systems and service management[C].Kunming:IEEE,2016.
[2] GEORGE R V, HARSH H O, RAY P, et al.Food quality traceability prototype for restaurants using blockchain and food quality data index[J]. Journal of cleaner production, 2019, 240: 118021.
[3] LIU R, LI J, LI X.Application mode and implementa‐tion of blockchain in circulation of agricultural products[J]. China circulation economy, 2020, 3: 43-54.
[4] DWIVEDI S K, AMIN R, VOLLALA S.Blockchain based secured information sharing protocol in supply chain management system with key distribution mechanism[J]. Journal of information security and applications, 2020, 54: 102554.
[5] HELO P, HAO Y.Blockchains in operations and supply chains: A model and reference implementation[J]. Computers & industrial engineering, 2019, 136: 242-251.
[6] KIM M, CHAI S.The impact of supplier innovativeness, information sharing and strategic sourcing on improving supply chain agility: Global supply chain perspective[J]. International journal of production economics, 2017, 187: 42-52.
[7] MAO D H, HAO Z H, WANG F, et al.Innovative blockchain-based approach for sustainable and credible environment in food trade: A case study in Shandong Province, China[J]. Sustainability, 2018, 10(9): 3149.
[8] IQBAL R, BUTT T A.Safe farming as a service of blockchain-based supply chain management for improved transparency[J]. Cluster computing, 2020, 23(3): 2139-2150.
[9] GOLINSKA-DAWSONP,KOLINSKIA. Efficiency in sustainable supply chain[M].Berlin:Springer,2017.3-17.
[10] WANG J, YUE H L.Food safety pre-warning system based on data mining for a sustainable food supply chain[J]. Food control, 2017, 73: 223-229.
[11] ZHAN H,LV X, XU D.Research on blockchain technology in promoting environmental protection development of agricultural products e-commerce model in Jilin Province[A]. IOP conference series: Materials science and engineering[C].IOP Publishing,2019.
[12] ATASUA.Environmentally responsible supply chains[M].Berlin:Springer, 2016.29-50.
[13] FEHR E,SCHMIDT K M.A theory of fairness, competition, and cooperation[J]. The quarterly journal of economics,1999,114(3):817-868.
[14] XIONG H, DALHAUS T, WANG PQ, et al.Blockchain technology for agriculture: Applications and rationale[J]. Frontiers in blockchain,2020,3:7.
[15] TRIPOLI M, SCHMIDHUBER J.Emerging opportunities for the application of blockchain in the agri-food industry[J]. International centre for trade and sustainable development,2018.DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.320187.
[16] LIN J, SHEN Z Q, ZHANG A T, et al.Blockchain and IoT based food traceability system[J]. International journal of information technology, 2018, 24(1): 1-17.
[17] KAMBLE S S, GUNASEKARAN A, SHARMA R.Modeling the blockchain enabled traceability in agriculture supply chain[J]. International journal of information management,2020, 52: 101967.
[18] BALAJI M, ARSHINDER K.Modeling the causes of food wastage in Indian perishable food supply chain[J]. Resources, conservation and recycling, 2016, 114: 153-167.
[19] TAYLOR D H, FEARNE A.Demand management in fresh food value chains: A framework for analysis and improvement[J]. Supply chain management: An international journal, 2009,14(5):379-392.
[20] FENG H H, WANG X, DUAN Y Q, et al.Applying blockchain technology to improve agri-food traceability: A review of development methods, benefits and challenges[J]. Journal of cleaner production, 2020, 260: 121031.
[21] WANG H W, LIU Z Y, LIANG Y.Research on the three-in-one model of agricultural products e-commerce logistics under the combination of resource saving and blockchain technology[A].IOP conference series: Materials science and engineering[C].IOP Publishing,2019.
[22] XIE C,SUN Y,LUO H.Secured data storage scheme based on block chain for agricultural products tracking[A]. 2017 3rd international conference on big data computing and communications[C].Chengdu:IEEE,2017.
[23] PEARSON S, MAY D, LEONTIDIS G, et al.Are distributed ledger technologies the panacea for food traceability?[J]. Global food security, 2019, 20: 145-149.
[24] LI X H, WANG D B, LI M L.Convenience analysis of sustainable E-agriculture based on blockchain technology[J]. Journal of cleaner production, 2020, 271: 122503.
[25] KAMILARIS A, FONTS A, PRENAFETA-BOLDΎ F X. The rise of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chains[J]. Trends in food science & technology, 2019, 91: 640-652.