Blockchain can improve sustainability, traceability in palm oil sector
KUALA LUMPUR: Blockchain technology can be used to complement both Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification efforts to further improve sustainability and traceability in Malaysia’s oil palm sector.
Foodchain SpA Asia and Middle East regional head Azizi Meor Ngah said the use of blockchain technology in traceability and monitoring would enable sustainable oil palm practitioners to provide evidence to counter and erase perceptions, especially from the European Union (EU), that their plantations used unsustainable planting methods and caused deforestation.
He said that the use of blockchain in the plantation sector would improve transparency and accountability as the information entered cannot be changed and would be accessible by all parties in the supply chain.
“This will promote discipline (in the supply chain) as everyone is in constant communication and not operating in a silo,” he told Bernama at a market forum hosted by the Malaysia Palm Oil Council (MPOC) here yesterday.
Azizi urged the private sector to be proactive and take the lead in applying this new technology.
“By having the private sector take the lead, we can promote transparency and also eliminate allegations of (government) bias on compliance to sustainable planting practices by oil palm planters,” he said, adding that the plantation sector in Malaysia has yet to make use of blockchain technology.
Asked on the government’s target of reaching 100 per cent of oil palm smallholders to be MSPO-certified, he said the target can be reached but time was needed for the implementation.
“To implement a new standard for smallholders is not easy, because they are the landowners and they can do whatever they want with their crops. If they don’t like to comply with the certification process, what can you do,” he added.
Foodchain is an Italianbased company that provides traceability services for food supply chains using blockchain technology. - Bernama