Headline : Pig farmers in Papua New Guinea capitalize on blockchain technology

Read more from the original article on here at www.fao.org.

---

No. of Paragraph 16

FAO develops livestock-tracking system to help pig farmers expand their markets

Pigs play a key role in Papua New Guinea, both culturally and economically. Rising global demand for pork presents new export opportunities, but only if farmers can prove the quality of their product. Together with the International Telecommunications Unit, FAO is creating a distributed ledger system – better known as a blockchain-based system – that can track livestock and allow consumers to buy with confidence by verifying the history of their pigs. Using the system, farmers can record important information about their pigs, including their pedigrees, what they were fed, when they fell sick and what medicine was administered. Before the system was implemented, consumers had no means of verifying this information. The implementation of the new tracking system is vital for establishing consumer trust and ensuring farmers can expand their markets and earn a fair return on their investments.

In Papua New Guinea, no celebration is complete without a pig roast. As one of the few mammals living on the island, pigs play an important role in the country’s culture and economy. Traditionally, smallholder farmers—who raise the vast majority of pigs—have sold their livestock locally, but a rise in global demand for pork means new opportunities to access international markets. Consequently, farmers are looking for a way to prove that their livestock meets international standards—and are now turning to blockchain, immutable data recording technology, to do so.

At the request of the Provincial Government of Jiwaka, FAO and the International Telecommunications Unit (ITU) conceptualized and designed a new livestock-tracking blockchain system for smallholder pig farmers. Using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags and a smartphone app, farmers can keep digital records of how they raised their pigs – proving the pigs received a diet of sweet potatoes, for example, or were administered the proper vaccines. Thanks to this robust digital history, buyers can be assured of their animals’ quality, while farmers can earn a fairer return on their investment.

Read more from the original article on here at www.fao.org.

Related Headlines : Pig farmers in Papua New Guinea capitalize on blockchain technology (in Google.com):

Hello, below you have a "Web" tab to read more content and an "Image" tab to get related pictures

Example : Trends, Country, News, Jobs, Scholarships, Investment, Business, Politics, Adverts, Fashion, Events, Technology and more.