Blockchain: The Evolutionary Next Step for ICT E-Agriculture

Blockchain technology, while still challenged with key limitations, is a transformativeInformation and Communications Technology (ICT) that has changed our notion of trust. Improvedefficiencies for agricultural sustainable development has been demonstrated when ICT-enabledfarms have access to knowledge banks and other digital resources. UN FAO-recommendedICT e-agricultural infrastructure components are a confluence of ICT and blockchain technologyrequirements. When ICT e-agricultural systems with blockchain infrastructure are immutableand distributed ledger systems for record management, baseline agricultural environmental dataintegrity is safeguarded for those who participate in transparent data management. This paperreviewed blockchain-based concepts associated with ICT-based technology. Moreover, a model ICTe-agriculture system with a blockchain infrastructure is proposed for use at the local and regionalscale. To determine context specific technical and social requirements of blockchain technology forICT e-agriculture systems, an evaluation tool is presented. The proposed system and tool can beevaluated and applied to further developments of e-agriculture systems.