In November 2020, the WFP Jordan Innovation Hub launched a pilot action with Decapolis, i.e. a blockchain-based platform that tracks the food product through the whole supply chain, from the farm to the retail shop. Blockchain technology builds a chain of digital records that cannot be broken or tampered with. This provides a highly trustable system for tracing food quality and safety. Decapolis trains Jordanian smallholder farmers in agricultural best practice for optimal crop quality production, including proper handling and usage of pesticides and other additives as well as techniques for avoiding bacterial contamination. Soil and water quality is ensured through laboratory testing at least twice during the crop cycle. Simultaneously, smallholder farmers use the Decapolis platform to register and prove their products' compliance with local and international food safety standards. Retailers can also access and purchase these certified premium crops through the same traceability platform.

Decapolis enables smallholder farmers to produce on-demand, higher-quality crops, generate better incomes, and access new markets to which they could not previously export. This improves smallholder farmers' livelihoods, brings safe, healthy products to local markets and increases efficiency across the production and supply chains. Since the pilot project's launch, 100 smallholder farmers have been onboarded, trained and are now using the Decapolis platform.

1- Increase the production of healthy crops 2- Enable the farmers to enter the market and sell their products.

With inconsistent volume and relatively low quality of products, small-scale farmers cannot compete against the large suppliers and wholesalers dominating the agro-markets both in Jordan and internationally. Structural deficiencies such as fragmented markets, weak supply chains, inadequate transport and infrastructure systems, and commercial disruption caused by reasons such as conflict in neighbouring countries further restrict smallholder farmers' access to markets. Hence, Jordanian smallholder farmers often lose their profits and land even their livelihoods when they are unable to sell their produce, and paradoxically need to rely on food assistance.