Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority uses blockchain and NFTs to track and certify farm products

 

Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), in cooperation with KSA’s Digital Government Authority (DGA), has conducted a Proof of Concept (POC) using blockchain technology and HALAL certificates built as NFTs for tracking the journey of products from the farm to point of sale as well as certifying them. 

As per the news, this experiment is one of the first of its kind in tracing the movement of products on a large scale using blockchain technology. The solution will provide  end-users with complete transparency regarding the parties involved in the supply chain, such as the farm, the slaughterhouse, and the retailer. By recording data in a decentralized manner, the end consumer can have confidence in the product's journey, ensuring security and immutability.

Additionally, the POC also included displaying other information about the supply chain partners, including the "Halal" certificate from the Saudi Halal Center, which documents the work of slaughterhouses for meat products in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). These advanced records enhance the values of transparency, which in turn increases the level of trust among supply chain entities and consumers.

It is noteworthy that the global market for halal products is growing at a rapid pace, providing an opportunity for local companies to access global markets with a competitive advantage, which is a halal certificate documented by the Saudi Halal Center in an unalterable form and the form of a non-fungible token (NFT). This solution contributes to verifying the products' halal status and enhances the values of discipline, transparency, and support for promising local companies.

Saudi Arabia has been fast moving its digitization efforts using Blockchain and NFTs. During Saudi’s leading tech event LEAP 2023, IR4LAB, a Saudi-based company specialized in disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence., and SGS (Saudi Ground Services), jointly announced the implementation of DocCerts Blockchain management solution for all training related digital documents and ground service equipment licenses issued by SGS at 28 Saudi Arabian airports where SGS provides ground services.

Shipsy, a leading global SaaS-based logistics management platform provider which utilizes technologies such as blockchain  signed an MOU with Monsha'at, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to support Saudi Vision 2030. This development took place at the sideline of Biban 23 Forum.

In October 2022 Saudi Arabia’s Information and Communication technology Commission has launched a blockchain enabled identity tracking management system for Bulk SMS messages in an effort to decrease fraud and enhance trust in Bulk messaging service offerings. 

Even Saudi’s first NFT marketplace platform, Nuqtah  raised a seed round of millions of dollars from Blockchain platform Polygon and Animoca Brands. As per the release the new funding will scale Nuqtah’s business over the next 12 months. In 2022, Nuqtah had announced it was planning to raise $5 million in upcoming seed rounds. 

Finally KSA has moved forward with its CBDC project. The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) confirmed that the Central Bank is continuing to experiment on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC).  SAMA is currently working on a project that focuses on domestic or national wholesale CBDC use case in collaboration with local banks and FinTech's.