AB InBev Unveils Blockchain Platform for African Agro Farmers

AB InBev, the enterprise owning the Budweiser brand, is assisting domestic African agriculturists to document their income using blockchain based platform.

BanQu, which developed the blockchain based platform, has highlighted that the system monitors all domestic suppliers of AB InBev, substituting the paper trail.

AB InBev is an international enterprise created by merging multiple established beer manufacturers. It owns brands such as Stella Artois, Budweiser and Corona.

The company deals with multiple domestic suppliers in order to receive tax concessions for the contribution they make to the country’s economy.

Nevertheless, it is not easy to accomplish in Africa, a region where banking framework is yet to develop in a robust manner and arranging physical documents are cumbersome process for rural farmers.

Collaborating with BanQu, an enterprise with expertise in blockchain logistics solutions, AB InBev unveiled a distributed ledger system that monitors all its domestic agriculturists that supply malt and barley. This permits them to document their income to domestic banks and thus set up bank accounts and credit lines.

While talking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carlos Brito, CEO of AB InBev, elaborated how even a unbanked farmer will be able to proof source of income:

“And now this farmer, who was never bankable — because she couldn’t prove income of any source, had no reports, or material or paperwork — now in a flip phone, she has in the blockchain proof that she is a supplier to AB InBev, a global company.”

Having a banking facility enables local agriculturists to fund more competent farming tools, boosting their output realizing additional income. The system also assists to clamp down bribery encouraged by third-parties who act as suppliers to breweries.

Brito pointed out that they were “not necessarily passing the money we were paying to him or her to [the farmer].” An unalterable blockchain system guarantees that the agriculturists are able to document their receivables. Brito additionally explained on the benefits of the blockchain based system:

“They become commercial farmers and everybody wins. Consumers are safer and we create more formal jobs. The government collects taxes. Instead of sending the money to Europe, or Australia, or Canada buying barley or malt, we keep the money there.”

The BanQu product has supposedly been employed with thousands of agriculturists throughout Uganda and also India. The African country of Uganda is gaining popularity for adopting blockchain.

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