ADOPTION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY TOWARDS ENHANCING COORDINATION IN THE FOOD IMPORTS-EXPORTS SYSTEM OF QATAR

Abstract

The agri-food industry is getting more and more international. Due to the World Trade Organization's initiatives, commerce has become more liberalized, and transportation and transaction costs have decreased. Consumer demand is growing more sophisticated as the majority of the population's fundamental caloric demands are met. When it comes to purchasing food, consumers continue to consider pricing to be an essential factor. Nonetheless, customers' interest in high-quality, diverse, and healthful food is growing. Also, consumers favor ethical and sustainable production methods, in part due to growing consumer knowledge of the environment. The suppliers, distributors, retailers, and logisticians alone do not make up the entirety of today's value chains. Volatilities and uncertainties must also be taken into consideration in modern supply chain theory. Modern value chains must therefore consider influences like the government, NGOs, and—most crucially—consumers, who decide how much to pay for the goods and services. The dominant characteristics of this phenomenon are the requirement for asset traceability, better financing options, easier certifications, and transparency without sacrificing data integrity. Due to the robust security guarantees that blockchain provides, which allow for the trusted exchange of transactions across completely distributed peer-to-peer networks, it is commonly used by decentralized applications. These security assurances, in theory, shield the distributed ledger where the transactions are stored against malevolent actors' manipulation or forgery. Blockchain is now widely used in governance, non-monetary transactions, digital supply chains, DeFi and cryptocurrency industries. The food supply chain is one of those that is rife with numerous inefficiencies and undetectable corruptions. As a result, several have looked into how to use blockchain technology in the food system. This thesis addresses the significant developments in blockchain technology as they relate to food security and offers road maps for potential future business applications. We delve into the various pillars of food security and discuss how blockchains can contribute significantly to the overall technical architecture of food security. Finally, the organizational, financial, and managerial aspects of technology adoption are covered in the article. We conclude by talking about the future directions of research and how blockchain technology can be adopted into the existing food import-export system of a country (namely Qatar).

Date of Award	2023
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Science and Engineering