Vitamin A deficiency affects approximately 30% of the Nigerian population – mostly children – and is estimated to cost the country USDD183 million annually.

Vitamin A deficiency can be alleviated through regular consumption of Vitamin A Orange Maize (VAOM), a biofortified variety of maize that can cover up to 50% of average daily vitamin A needs.

However, the lack of traceability in the supply chain is impairing the wide adoption of VAOM. Indeed, stakeholders have revealed that one of the biggest barriers for the food industry to adopt biofortified crops such as VAOM is the inability to distinguish biofortified crops from standard ones.

If it is not possible to differentiate the foods, protect and verify the identity across the supply chain then the added value cannot be communicated to the consumer.

Our proposal provides a solution to reach more people with biofortified crops. By combining the benefits of 2 technologies – biofortification and
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) – we aim to create sustainable, traceable high quality foods systems.

The project plans to implement blockchain technology (a type of DLT) on the farmX app to help value chain partners improve transparency and efficiency of business transactions, compliance processes and tracking and tracing of food products.