A Blockchain-based framework for Agriculture subsidy disbursement

Abstract

Agriculture is the primary livelihood factor in the growth of India’s economy. One of the significant challenges faced by the Government of India in the agriculture sector is to increase the delivery of subsidies by re-engineering the existing process. One of the solutions initiated by the government of India on 1st January 2013 with the highest priority is called a Direct Cash transfer scheme under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. It involves crediting subsidies (cash/payments) directly to the farmer’s account. However, the major problem associated with this scheme is that the government subsidies do not reach all the eligible farmers due to corruption, delay, intermediaries, and other reasons. The present direct cash transfers system’s major drawbacks such as (key loopholes are) lack of proper auditing, inability to track subsidy, and inadequate digital banking infrastructure especially in rural areas. In this regard, the disbursement of direct cash transfer scheme is addressed benefitting the farmers directly via Blockchain Smart Contracts technology thereby ensuring transparency, de-duplication, reduced delays, and reducing instances of fraud in the existing government subsidy delivery system. We aim to develop a blockchain-based smart contracts prototype model called a single-window approach for automating farmer’s subsidies and eliminating middlemen. The automated model will be fast, transparent, and immutable by reducing the complexities faced by Indian farmers.