THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 29 MARCH 2019 (Coffee trade goes live on blockchain platform (Live Mint)

Coffee trade goes live on blockchain platform (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 4: Economy
Prelims level: Coffee trade
Mains level: Significance of Coffee trade on blockchain platform

Context

• The Coffee Board launched the pilot of the country’s first blockchain-based marketplace app for trading in Indian coffee.
• It aimed at getting growers better returns by removing myriad middlemen.
• The Coffee Blockchain initiative was announced by Suresh Prabhu, minister for commerce and industry, in Delhi last September.  So, why did it take six months for the project to go live?
• There were more than 20 stakeholders from three different countries.
• It had to get all of them on board, and then test the platform.
• The blockchain platform will allow a coffee producer to directly transact with multiple buyers.
• In India, coffee is cultivated in about 454,000 hectares by 366,000 coffee farmers 98% of them small farmers whose returns are meagre.
• The aim of using blockchain is to “premium-ise" coffee, add “bean-to-cup traceability" and cut the role of middlemen.
• The blockchain-based solution was developed in coordination with Eka Software Solutions.
• The idea of using blockchain is to “record the first smart contract on a blockchain with the 20-odd stakeholders, and establish trust in the marketplace".

Way forward

• With this activation, we are confident that the Coffee Board of India will help the Indian coffee trade make more inroads into the premium market internationally and make India one of the top three coffee producers in the world.
• The Coffee Board is also “testing" blockchain-based solutions from a couple of other vendors but added that “the one from Eka Software was the most suitable at this moment".
• Blockchain is no longer a technology that is just about powering cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether.
• A distributed digital ledger technology (DLT), it is also being used by manufacturing companies to improve their supply chains; by healthcare and electricity companies; and by the financial sector to make transactions more transparent.

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Which of the following chemical is found in sunscreen lotions which is considered to be harmful to the Coral Reefs?
(a) Oxybenzone
(b) Methyl Benzene
(c) Peroxybenzone
(d) None of the above

Ans: A

Mains Questions:
Q.1) To what extent the Coffee trade goes live on blockchain platform. Comment.