Argentina Becomes A Global Technology Leader by Leveraging Morpheus.Network
By: Nikhil Sethi
Tags: Senasa, Supply Chain, Blockchain, Argentina, Adoption

SENASA, the National Food Safety and Quality Service of the Argentine government, has agreed to work with Polaris Network to implement the Morpheus.Network solution for animal management and certification using blockchain and IoT technologies.

Morpheus.Network takes pride in seeing their network grow in the country’s agribusiness sector thus building inroads in a brand new market. It will be a significant multiplier to work with the entrusted governmental organization as Morpheus.Network aims to become the trusted and reliable partner for their supply chain needs.

About SENASA

SENASA has headed the government of Argentina’s surveillance, regulation, and certification of animal and plant origin products and also deals with the prevention, eradication, and control of diseases and plagues affecting these plant and animal species.

In its venture within the agro sector, Morpheus.Network promises to integrate data and analytical support in securing conformity, traceability, automation as well as cost-efficiency.

Why opt for a supply chain solution?

The integration of myriad data including materials, products, responsibilities, arrivals, timing, cost, temperature, locations, documents, losses, damage, or misdirection in a supply chain frequently proves problematic.

Moreover, the difficulty increases with more moving pieces getting involved, the more products are moved, the more country borders are crossed, and the more fragile or vulnerable the merchandise.

It is like monitoring a series of spinning plates not knowing which might be the next one to fall and smash.

The supply chain is critical to Jorge Marcos Madrid’s businesses who happens to be the founder and CEO of 18 companies in the agribusiness sector, including Vitalcan which is Argentina’s largest pet food business employing more than 200 people and with a turnover of $50 million. As such, he is familiar with the difficulties of moving his product across vast distances, high altitudes, and over borders crammed with bureaucratic processes.

End-to-end traceability and automation with Morpheus.Network

Morpheus.Network uses blockchain technology to create a transparent, and efficient platform to streamline and automate the global supply chain. We utilize public and permissioned blockchains as well as sidechains to utilize decentralized advantages while maintaining the security and privacy of user’s data.

Who is Jorge Marcos Madrid?

Jorge Marcos Madrid, CEO of Vitalcan SA pet food company (Argentina) has partnered with Morpheus.Network to regulate and automate phytosanitary solutions across the country.

Speaking about the collaboration named, ‘Polaris Network’, Jorge remarked,

“I am very proud of our systems. We have 6,500 clients across the country and once an order is received it is delivered within 24 hours. We can only fix a problem after it arises which can be time-consuming and expensive. By using the Morpheus.Network platform, we know immediately if there is a problem and how to correct it without having to implement reverse logistics to determine the point and owner of failure. The platform is both flexible and precise. We also can reduce costs by making sure things are at the right place at the right time. For example, scheduling a truck to pick up or deliver at optimum times can reduce delays and costs.”

Shedding light on the routine difficulties from the sector, Jorge continued, “We have mountains, plains, jungles — there is a lot of logistics involved with such physical obstacles. Sometimes we move our products more than 2,500km from the warehouse to their final destination. Companies here also are not as technically developed as our European counterparts. We need a solution that fits.”

The gross estimation of agribusiness in Argentina

Agribusiness is a huge sector in Argentina accounting for 60% of GDP — a whopping $60 billion per annum. However, Jorge sees Morpheus.Network as a timely platform to market, support, and onboard clients in the country.

According to him, SENASA officials are very open to bringing the country forward. As of November 2020, it is now Senasa’s newly accepted best practice and norm for all companies handling phytosanitary materials to comply by agreeing to leverage the Morpheus.Network platform.

Polaris & Morpheus.Network have agreed on the 1st project on phytosanitary with SENASA and now are looking at the 2nd project based on blockchain and IoT to bring the country forward with animal management and certification.

Predicting the future possibilities on the lines of the joint venture, Jorge reflected, “We’re not currently as advanced in terms of technology as the US, but these implementations with the Morpheus.Network platform should put us in the same category, or dare I say Argentina would be superior in regards to these specific solutions.”

What were the challenges on the way?

The issue lies in transporting pesticides safely across the country which is used by farmers to clear farming land of all vegetation. It currently cannot safely be transported in bulk as there are too many potential issues regarding the misuse, loss, or theft of the product.

How does the Morpheus.Network Supply Chain Platform work?

The pilot survey was conducted by Polaris and Morpheus.Network which will allow the pesticide to be delivered in bulk where they can track the product as required by regulations up to and including its geolocation at all times using Morpheus.Network automated workflows with a customized IoT module. There is a dashboard to give SENASA, access to the locations and time stamping; so if there is any deviation from the planned route, an alert is sent out to SENASA.

An essential part of the implementation includes leveraging IoT devices on 400 trucks to transmit data including the geolocation, timestamp, and flow meter readings from the 30,000L tank trailers while being filled with glyphosate material. All these essential data will be validated on the blockchain in real-time through Morpheus.Network platform.

How will blockchain technology improve performance?

There will be an immediate impact on the 100,000 farmers who use this product as they will no longer need to receive the pesticide in fifty individual 20-liter plastic bags. This poses an immediate cost saving of between 25% and 30% in the initial delivery costs of a market worth $600 million.

It also alleviates the requirement on the largest phytosanitary companies like Bayer / Monsanto and Atanor to provide reverse logistics to retrieve the empty plastic bags as required under Argentinian law.

Another major aspect of the SENASA implementation includes deploying 20,000 IoT devices to track intermediate bulk containers (“IBC bins”) for producers such as Atanor and Bayer.

Jorge addresses the long term prospects embedded within the sector saying, “The government does not have any money for investment into new technology, so it falls to private companies to take up the slack. But for a private company to invest they need to see a return. Using the Polaris approach, we can demonstrate savings without huge costs upfront fees.”

“The future — not just for Argentina but the world — is based on collaboration. Years of competition meant each party was looking for a competitive edge, but we are at another stage, a collaborative stage where companies, regulatory bodies, tech companies, agents and farmers need to work together.”

Morpheus.Network’s Digital FootPrint technology is transforming the way today’s companies trace and retrieve supply chain data enabled by advanced blockchain applications.

With benefits like cost savings, time management, systematic regulations, automated workflows, and customized IoT module maintenance, the phytosanitary approaches in Argentina will be subject to service by Morpheus.Network. The blockchain platform will help combine operational data with access to locations in real-time. The digital software solutions provider will help deliver orderly conduct while ensuring transparency to all the stakeholders in the entire process.

About Morpheus.Network

The cloud-based middleware platform for Digitizing the Supply Chain. Morpheus.Network provides shippers and exporters with a complete set of tools including PO Acquisition (SAP), Workflows and Process Orchestration, Robust Document Collaboration and Exchange, Visibility Foundation based on Internet of Things (IoT), A Digital Footprint Blockchain Notary Service for optimizing safe and secure supply chains saving time and money. https://morpheus.network/

About SENASA

SENASA is a governmental organization that plans, organizes, and executes specific programs and activities to regulate the production of safe food for human and animal consumption. Competencies. It is responsible for executing the national policies regarding animal and plant quality and safety, as well as food safety. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/senasa