Blockchain can add impetus to Africa’s free-trade drive

Putter says Moroccan fertilizer group OCP has shown that Blockchain can be used to eliminate documentation and accelerate dispute resolution. OCP in 2021 became the first African company to execute an intra-African trade transaction using Blockchain, delivering phosphate fertilisers from Morocco to Ethiopia.

Smaller companies can also benefit in “a transparent environment lowering buffers to entry,” Putter says in Johannesburg.  “The transparent ledger will highlight where the bottlenecks are not only in fertilizers, but for soft commodities and ultimately will track produce through every step of its transformation.”