TECHONEY : Development of a blockchain-based ecosystem that allows an improved positioning of small producers of honey on local and international markets

Context The European beekeeping sector does not enjoy self-sufficiency, as it only provides 64% of the honey marketed in its territory, importing honey to cover its domestic consumption, mainly from China. Honey prices continue to fall, and there are no adequate tools, such as the absence of clear origin labelling and the problem of adulterated honey. A significant percentage of imported honey is adulterated, and the reduction of the price of honey in the Med's major producing countries has put beekeepers in a difficult position. Food fraud is rampant in honey production and has devastating consequences. The economic damage to beekeepers who produce authentic honey is approximately $1 billion. Consumers often think they consume local honey when a proportion of it is a blend of national and foreign honey, often adulterated. In the Med. countries, especially in rural areas, there is a lack of quality labelling systems and traceability, which does not allow the small beekeepers to be identifiable by consumers along the food supply chain. About 20% of the honey is declared as blended EU honey or unblended honey with a geographical reference related to a member state suspected of containing added sugar. Objective and contents TECHONEY's main objective is to identify strategies and establish lines of resilience to the new challenges determined by the COVID-19 pandemic for beekeepers in the Med agricultural systems through the implementation, definition, enhancement and transfer of competitive, profitable, efficient and trustful honey supply-chain alternatives that address beekeepers' capacities and attractiveness to fulfil consumer needs on unexpected food market changes. The project proposes developing a traceability system to guarantee the quality and safety of honey within the supply chain for more effective communication to consumers and to strengthen access to different markets (e-commerce, direct sales, etc.). The specific objectives (SO) are the following map the current added-value chains and complexity level for honey products in five case studies by honey innovation and learning living lab increase the competitiveness and power of the beekeeping supply chain by understanding consumers' and retailers' opinions and acceptance to promote the traceability to differentiate local honey produced in the Med by the characterisation of local honey development of a new "Multichannel distribution" e-commerce platform and unique traceability ecosystems and effective business models across different stakeholders maximise the exploitation and transference of the findings by creating a website ITC Tool Maximise outreach and beneficial influence of the project results and reach the target users (beekeepers, small-scale food manufacturers and local distributors, canteens and retailers, local public authorities) through an effectively established communication and dissemination plan, including innovative training capsules Expected impact and results TECHONEY is structured in four main technological pillars creation of a consortium IoT blockchain platform that involves various actors in the honey supply chain development of ICT tools for honey supply chain participants and consumers characterisation of the quality of honey to guarantee its traceability within the blockchain directly by consumers creation of a transformative learning community to ensure a smart-short-resilient shared supply chain. Expect impact: knowledge of the quality and safety of Med honey will make it possible to inform and raise consumer awareness of the health risks of adulterated honey, ensuring market prices that improve beekeepers' yields. TECHONEY will build a specialised traceability service that will make it possible to trace any honey production within the supply chain and guarantee food quality and safety. Consumers will have information on the characterisation, authentication, and functional properties of the honey to obtain a map of their characteristics and peculiarities. A direct sales channel (e-commerce platform) that provides information, quality, safety and consumer confidence will be opened. Characterisation of the qualitative aspects of local honey through certified local laboratories. The use of e-commerce and quality labelling systems will increase the opportunity for beekeepers to be identified locally (local and regional shops) and allow them to access new markets directly through the e-commerce platform (foreign markets), allowing the creation of a specific direct sales channel to reach consumers without having to go through traditional distributors. Beekeepers' access to the honey market will be facilitated, bringing transparency along the supply chain, reducing fraud, increasing food safety, and improving communication between retailers, beekeepers and consumers