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Blockchain Tech Helps Coffee Farmers Make Fair Gains

Last Updated
Rebecca Campbell
Last Updated

Denver-based Bext Holdings Inc. is making it simple for coffee farmers to receive a fair price quickly for their beans through the blockchain with its mobile app.

Coffee has become a popular drink drunk by millions of people around the world, which is seeing millions of farmers growing the coffee beans to sell on. Unfortunately, making a profit doing so is not high, with the World Bank stating that many smallholders live on less than $2 per day.

Now, though, with the Bext360 mobile app, farmers can ensure that they are receiving the correct price for their product.

In a report from TechCrunch , it states that the company had developed a mobile robot that gives potential coffee buyers the opportunity to check the quality of the beans and weigh the product in the field.

Using optical sorting, the robot can determine what percentage of coffee beans are perfect and those that are spoiled in a batch. This information is made available to both the farmer and the buyer whereupon a fair price is negotiated through Bext360’s app.

According to Daniel Jones, founder and CEO of Bext360, he said that coffee drinkers will know where exactly the coffee they are drinking came from and whether those involved received a fair price for it.

Consumers are more enlightened than ever before. And companies want to meet their high standards. But in general, groups working on fair trade spend a lot of overhead on tracing materials. They use rudimentary tracing mechanisms. And it’s very imprecise. People in the field can still get exploited.

Blockchain in Humanitarian Cases

Use cases of the blockchain are increasing, and its use in humanitarian causes is one area that is experiencing a rise in the technology.

Just last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced it was using the Ethereum blockchain to distribute cash assistance to the world’s hungriest families. By turning to the technology the WFP can deliver aid to those who need it efficiently and safely.

Another organization that is utilizing the blockchain is London-based Humanitarian Blockchain, which is the world’s first DIY e-governance consultancy project that is attempting to tackle social and global problems using the blockchain.

Through these organizations, they are trying to change how things currently are, by providing a better service for the hungry, refugees or other disenfranchised populations who face barriers to social, political and economic freedom.

Changes may not be made overnight, but through bitcoin’s distributed ledger, they are paving the way to better things.

Featured image from Shutterstock.