Role of Mobile Phone Technology in Improving Small Farm Productivity

Telecommunication, especially mobile phones have the potential to provide solution to the existing information asymmetry in various lagging sectors like agriculture. India’s agricultural sector suffers from low growth rates and low productivity. Issues in access to information are weak points at every stage of the agri-supply chain. For small farmer-based economy like India, access to information can possibly enable better incomes and productivity to the farmers. This paper through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with farmers, has tried to find answers to the use and impact of mobile phones and mobile-enabled services on agricultural productivity. The answers to these questions are of relevance to develop better policy environment conducive for small and medium farmers and have implications for mobile phone operators, information service providers, and policymakers. The study has shown that although, mobile phones can act as catalyst to improving farm productivity and rural incomes, the quality of information, timeliness of information and trustworthiness of information are the three important aspects that have to be delivered to the farmers to meet their needs and expectations. There exist critical binding constraints that restrict the ability of the farming community to realize full-potential gains and it is more so for small than large farmers.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Impact On Small Farmers and Fishermen Through Use Of Mobiles in India

Telecommunication and more specially mobile phones have the potential to provide solution to the existing information asymmetry in various lagging sectors like Agriculture. India’s agricultural sector suffers from low growth rates and low productivity. Issues in access to information is a week point at every stage of the agrisupply chain. For small farmers base economy like India, access to information can possible enable better incomes and productivity to the farmers. This paper through focus group discussions and in-depth interview with farmers in villages of India, has tried to find answers to the use and impact of mobile and mobile enabled services on agricultural productivity. The answers to these questions are of relevance to develop better policy environment conducive for the small and medium farmers and has implications for mobile operators, for information service providers, and for policy-makers. The results show that although, mobiles can act as catalyst to improving productivity and rural incomes, the quality of the information, the timeliness of the information and trustworthiness of the information are the three important aspects that has to be delivered to the farmers, to meet there needs and expectations. There exist critical binding constraints that restricts the ability of the farming community to realise gains at full potential and this is more for the small than to large farmers.Mobile and Agriculture, India, Productivity, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, Production Economics, Q13, Q16, Q18,

A Food Traceability System Based on Blockchain and the Random Forests Algorithm

The frequently happened food scandals worldwide and the outbreak of CODIV-19 have led to increasing concern regarding food quality and safety issues. Providing a food traceability system seems to be a basic requirement. However, most food traceability systems are criticized that customers cannot verify the authenticity of the information provided by companies regarding the origin of and the shipment of purchased products. With extensive research on Blockchain technology, it is believed that it has the potential to tackle the problem of validating data for customers. This study aimed to propose a blockchain-enabled food traceability system for the agricultural sector in China. Furthermore, we investigate the applicability of the random forests algorithm, one of the machine learning techniques, in the design of the system. The random forests algorithm is believed to further enhance the effectiveness of the proposed system with an automatic data validation process to concern the data of agricultural products and classify them to their quality levels. The anticipated result of this proposed system is expected to be effective to evaluate the quality of agricultural products at every stage to reduce the occurrence of food quality and safety issues and provide authentic information to customers and involved parties in the agricultural supply chain

Identifying quality gaps in tourism for people with disabilities: Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA)

The aim of the article is to assess the significance (importance) and level of inconvenience of selected attributes of tourist services provided at particular stages of the supply chain in tourism (information, accommodation, transport, organization and intermediation) in relation to people with various types and degrees of disability. The survey conducted among the disabled helped to identify quality gaps in the provision of tourism services, taking into account their complementarity and accessibility at every stage of delivery. The method of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) and basic measures of descriptive statistics were used to analyze empirical data. The study will help to indicate to what extent the tourist experience of a disabled person and the type of disability affect the assessment of the significance (importance) and inconvenience of selected attributes of tourist services. The results of the research can be used by entrepreneurs to analyze the quality and reliability of services provided by their partners and the behavior and needs of the disabled in tourism. They will also be useful for local and regional authorities responsible for ensuring the competitiveness and inclusiveness of tourism regions

Beyond Cost-per-Hire and Time to Fill: Supply-Chain Measurement for Staffing

Identifying and acquiring talent is one of the most important processes in human resource management. It is a key element in being competitive in a knowledge driven, talent constrained economy. In addition, it is often the first contact that potential employees have with the organization, so it can be the basis for the entire employment relationship. Increasingly, organizations recognize that a professionally excellent staffing process can be a source of competitive advantage. Moreover, the emergence of fundamentally new information technologies and communication processes – such as the Internet, virtual job fairs, online testing, and global job boards – increase the opportunities and the risks associated with staffing process management. Unfortunately, existing staffing process measurement systems typically fail to provide the information necessary to understand, evaluate and make rational decisions about investments in the staffing system, and fail to support decisions about staffing by HR professionals, line managers, applicants and employees. As a result, organizations often base decisions about their staffing systems solely on information about the volume of applicants or new hires, or the costs and time involved in staffing activities. This leads to potentially disastrous decisions, and opens the door for competitors. In this article, we propose a framework for a staffing measurement system that truly supports professional excellence, partnership and optimal investment decisions

Cryptographic system for supply chains over RFID implementation

RFID is an identication technology that has a wide range of applications. One of the main areas of interest is the Supply Chain Management (SCM), traceability management, multimodality shopping, etc. In suppy chains readers are placed into manufacturing facilities, the supplier attaches RFID tags to all outgoing products and some data is stored on each tag , attached to the products. At each stage, every player in the supply chain will be able to track relevant information on the product. The information can be used to ensure quality, on time delivery, fast re-stocks, ad hence greater overall e ciency. NSCCA (Nested Supply Chain Cryprographic System) is an algorithm derived from the Nested Cryptographic Algorithm, that aims to ensure authenticity, privacy and protection along one suppy chain, and is based on public cryptog- raphy. The scope of this project is to develop a programming class library and an appli- cation that implement the NSCCA algorithm, as well as testing its performance, as well as an interface that permit to communicate through an RFID reader in order to save and load the result of the algorithm in RFID tags. structure of this report is as follows: In Chapter 2, some important concepts involved in the project are explained, as well as the NSSCA algorithm, public key cryptography and RFID technology. Then, in Chapter 3 the development framework (programming language, ID) is explained, and the program structure is de ned. Continuing, the Chapter 4some tests on the platform are performed, and the main results are discussed. After that, in Chapter 5 there is a little user manual for the application developed to test the libraries. Finally, in Chapter 6 the conclussions on the project realization are explained

Risk management in organic coffee supply chains : testing the usefulness of critical risk models

This report documents the findings of the analysis of the supply chain of organic coffee from Uganda to the Netherlands using a Chain Risk Model (CRM). The CRM considers contamination of organic coffee with chemicals as a threat for the supply chain, and analyses the consequences of contamination in one stage of the supply chain for the subsequent stages. Next to this, CRM also analyses the effectiveness and efficiency of measures to avoid or detect contamination. In a subsequent phase of this research, the CRM can also be used to analyse the consequences of fraud (= mixing of organic coffee and non-organic coffee) and measures to tackle fraud

Smart contract and web DApp for traceability in the olive oil production chain

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática na Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Instituto Politécnico de Viana do CasteloNowadays, as people become more health-conscious, adopting a healthy and balanced diet has become increasingly important for a better quality of life. A good diet not only helps to prevent and fight diseases, but also contributes to overall well-being. At the same time, consumers are concerned about climate change and the sustainability of the planet. Consequently, consumers are paying more attention to the food they consume, seeking products that offer nutritional value and sustainability rather than just brand recognition. Portugal is one of the largest olive oil producers in the world, and olive oil is a fundamental component of the Mediterranean diet. The nutritional value of olive oil is directly linked to every stage of the product's value chain, from cultivation to consumption. To ensure that consumers have access to reliable and accurate information about the quality of the olive oil they purchase, it is important to establish traceability in the production chain. By doing so, consumer confidence can be consolidated. This study focuses on traceability in the olive oil production chain, as well as social and environmental sustainability indicators and quality indicators. The goal is to create a solution that utilizes Blockchain technology and Smart Contracts to enable more reliable and transparent information about olive oil production and quality to be easily accessible to consumers. This case study is important because it highlights the need for greater transparency in the food production chain, as well as the benefits of utilizing new technologies like Blockchain to improve transparency and trace ability. It also demonstrates the significance of sustainability in the production of food products, and how it can impact both the environment and consumer health.Hoje em dia, à medida que as pessoas se tornam mais conscientes sobre a saúde, a adopção de uma dieta saudável e equilibrada tornou-se cada vez mais importante para uma melhor qualidade de vida. Uma boa dieta não só ajuda a prevenir e combater doenças, como também contribui para o bem-estar geral. Consequentemente, os consumidores estão a prestar mais atenção aos alimentos que consomem, procurando produtos que ofereçam valor nutricional e sustentabilidade e não apenas o reconhecimento da marca. Portugal é um dos maiores produtores de azeite do mundo, e o azeite é uma componente fundamental da dieta mediterranica O valor nutricional do azeite está directamente ligado a todas as fases da cadeia de valor do produto, desde o cultivo até ao consumo. Para garantir que os consumidores tenham acesso a informação fiável e precisa sobre a qual- idade do azeite que adquirem, é importante estabelecer a rastreabilidade na cadeia de produção. Ao fazê-lo, a confiança dos consumidores pode ser consolidada. Este estudo centra-se na rastreabilidade na cadeia de produção do azeite, bem como nos indicadores de sustentabilidade social e ambiental e nos indicadores de qualidade. O objectivo é criar uma solução que utilize a tecnologia Blockchain e Smart Contracts para permitir que informações mais fiáveis e transparentes sobre a produção e qualidade do azeite sejam facilmente acessíveis aos consumidores Este caso de estudo é importante porque sublinha a necessidade de maior transparência na cadeia da valor da produção alimentar, bem como os benefícios de utilizar novas tecnologias como a Blockchain para melhorar a transparência e a rastreabilidade. Também demonstra a importância da sustentabilidade na produção de produtos alimentares, e como pode ter impacto tanto no ambiente como na saúde dos consumidores