FAO, through the Global Strategy to improve Agriculture and Rural Statistics, and TE-FOOD International signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in several activities:

As the first step, the Parties will contribute to a better understanding of blockchain technology, and its implications for the statisticans responsible for official statistics of the livestock sector.

The livestock sector contributes to 40 percent of the global value of agricultural output. It supports the livelihoods and food security of almost 1.3 billion people. It provides opportunities for sustainable agricultural development, poverty eradication and food security gains.

FAO and TE-FOOD will conceptualize and develop a pilot case based on the pig statistics sector in Vietnam, including the General Statistics Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, and the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) through its Data Innovation Group (Data61).

Based on the existing system put in place by TE-FOOD in Southern Viet Nam, parties will analyse the feasibility, the scalability and the sustainability of using existing registers and information made available through the distributed ledger from an official statistical perspective.

They will analyse the cost effectiveness of the blockchain technology in comparison with other administrative data technologies used in the livestock sector, then make recommendations and discuss possible improvements.

Finally, parties will create a further research agenda and proposals for scaling up these approaches in other countries and other situations proposed.

About FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

Contacts:

Marton Ven

marton.ven@te-food.com

Christophe Duhamel

Christophe.Duhamel@fao.org