Blockchain technology reaches honey in Spain

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Put the most advanced technology at the service of the productive chain of the beekeeping sector. This is the purpose that has been developing in the Center for Research and Food Technology of Aragon (CITA)which has used the blockchain system so that small businesses dedicated to the production of honey are able to improve their position in different markets.

The initiative, which is called Techoney and which has the participation of eight countries, is led by Tiziana de Magistris, a researcher at CITA’s Department of Agri-Food Economics. The specific objective on which the entire project is configured is none other than to create a digital procedure that allows to prove the origin and traceability of the honey, thus avoiding important adulteration frauds that affect both consumers and consumers. to farms that comply with the law

The use of the chain of blocks allows the safe and decentralized registration of all the relevant information on the origin and composition of the product, so it is a mechanism that guarantees the veracity of the data in question. In fact, blockchain technology works like a gigantic digital database in which information is stored in a shared way, outside of a central point. In this way, a record is created that is unique and unalterable.

Techoney is made up of four large pillars that function as a whole. First of all, the CITA has taken care of creating the relevant blockchain platform on which all digital transactions around honey will be carried out. It is in this scenario that the second point that structures the project appears; Here it is a matter of articulating a group of participants that is made up of the different actors that constitute the honey value chain, since in this way it is possible to guarantee the desired transparency and traceability.

The third pillar deals with establishing within the blockchain the characteristics that make up the quality of honey, information that consumers can access through the fourth pillar, which is none other than the set of information technology tools. and communications (ICT) developed by CITA. It is a resource that also plans to reach the user in the form of a mobile application, taking into account that the use of the blockchain already has examples of success in this type of media. Not in vain, the best mobile casinos in Spain incorporate this technology to prevent fraud in economic transactions. Players are assured that their deposits and withdrawals in virtual gaming rooms are always properly recorded.

With the idea of ​​consecrating new phases in favor of Techoney, the headquarters of the Center for Research and Agrifood Technology of Aragon hosted a focus group last March aimed at launching the initiative, as a test, among the agents involved that are part of the honey value chain. The aspects that lead beekeepers to approach digital innovation were discussed and the various results of the interviews that these people underwent at the end of last year on this matter were exposed.

The medium and long-term plan involves organizing annual meetings with producers and consumers in the sector to learn first-hand about the achievements made thanks to the blockchain, check how the contributions of these businesses to the blockchain have been developing and see how all this can lead to new research in favor of a segment that in Spain has more than thirty-six thousand farms and three million hives.

Techoney not only has the participation of organizations such as CITA, but also has the collaboration of universities in France, Tunisia, Italy, Algeria, Luxembourg, Turkey and Morocco. The initiative is financed by the Research and Innovation Program in the Mediterranean area (PRIMA), which contributes more than 1.2 million euros over three years. Spanish beekeeping fully enters the next technological stage.