Vải thiều Bắc Ninh ứng dụng truy xuất nguồn gốc bằng blockchain

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Bac Ninh lychees apply blockchain-based traceability06/05/2026

(ndachain.vn) In May 2026, a farming household in Bac Ninh brought their entire lychee cultivation process and supply chain onto a blockchain platform, combined with the international GS1 barcode standard, to serve exports to demanding markets such as Japan and Europe. This story shows that blockchain-based traceability is no longer a concept reserved for large enterprisesit is now present right at the growing regions. Against a backdrop of increasingly stringent transparency requirements from EUDR, the Digital Product Passport, and export markets, the need for a unified, verifiable, and nationally interoperable traceability infrastructure is becoming urgent. This is also the role NDATrace is designed to fulfil within Vietnam's data and traceability ecosystem.

Applying blockchain-based traceability to Bac Ninh lychees

The story from Mr. Men's lychee orchard

Across 1.5 hectares, the lychee orchard of Mr. Vu Van Men received organic certification in 2024, maintained through 2026. The 2026 harvest is expected to yield 3 to 4 tonnes, with the entire output already contracted for export to Japan and Europe, markets renowned for their stringent standards on quality, food safety, and traceability.

To meet these requirements, each product needs a "digital passport" that can be verified internationally. Mr. Men's lychees were assigned GTIN 8938561601003 under the global GS1 standard by the National Barcode Center, allowing the product to be identified and traded within the systems of more than 150 countries worldwide. This is an essential condition for goods to participate in the supply chains of major retailers and importers in Japan and Europe.

Built on that identification foundation, all data, from cultivation, care, and harvesting to quality inspection and transportation is recorded and linked to the blockchain. Each shipment is tagged with a QR code following the GS1 Digital Link standard, allowing importers, distributors, or consumers to access the product's complete journey with a simple smartphone scan.

The distinguishing factor lies in data authenticity. All recorded information is attached to a timestamp and digital proof, enabling detection of any unauthorized changes. As a result, traceability data is not merely reference information, it becomes verifiable evidence that meets the increasingly strict requirements of premium export markets.

Why this is an important step forward

Mr. Men's story is not just the success of one farming household, it reflects a new direction for Vietnamese agriculture in the digital era.

First, blockchain-based traceability has proven its feasibility even at the household production scale. The technology is no longer a tool reserved for corporations or large enterprises; even a farming household with 1.5 hectares can apply it to enhance product value and access international markets.

Second, the combination of blockchain and GS1 standards creates a complete traceability foundation. While blockchain ensures data integrity and verifiability, GS1 with GTIN and GS1 Digital Link, provides the common language for that data to be recognized and interoperable globally. These two components do not replace each other; they complement each other.

Third, traceability is becoming a mandatory requirement for access to premium export markets. Japan, the European Union, and many other countries are tightening requirements around supply chain transparency, raw material origin, and production history. In this context, the ability to prove credible provenance is no longer a competitive advantage, it is gradually becoming a condition for market entry.

More importantly, this model reflects a major shift in agricultural commerce: from selling products to selling trust. Quality remains the core factor, but value is increasingly determined by the ability to prove that quality, origin, and production process through verifiable data. This is the foundation for Vietnamese agricultural products to strengthen their competitive position in the global value chain.

From individual model to national infrastructure

The need for a unified traceability platform

The success of one farming household is an encouraging signal, but it also points to a larger challenge at national scale. If each producer, cooperative, or enterprise chooses a different traceability platform with its own standards and operational mechanisms, the result will be data fragmentation. Information cannot be interoperated, buyers must access multiple different systems, regulators struggle to consolidate data, and the value of the "Vietnamese traceability" brand is difficult to build in a unified way.

In addition, the fact that some current solutions record data on foreign public blockchains raises questions about data sovereignty. When data related to growing regions, production volumes, supply chains, and export activities is stored on infrastructure outside Vietnamese territory, the management, use, and protection of national data deserves serious consideration. With millions of farming households and thousands of products participating in domestic and international supply chains, Vietnam needs a unified, standardized traceability platform that it owns and controls.

This is precisely the role of a national-level traceability infrastructure built on national blockchain.

NDATrace: traceability infrastructure on the NDAChain blockchain platform

NDATrace is a shared traceability platform built on NDAChain blockchain infrastructure. It is designed to address the gaps of data fragmentation, lack of interoperability, and data sovereignty challenges, while inheriting the values that Mr. Men's traceability model has demonstrated in practice.

First and foremost, NDATrace aims to standardize and interconnect traceability data on a national scale. Rather than each producer, cooperative, or enterprise using its own separate system, NDATrace provides a unified platform where data is connected and operated according to the same standard. This is the foundation for forming a synchronized, transparent, and trustworthy national traceability ecosystem.

NDATrace also combines GS1 standards with decentralized identity (DID) technology. Each product is assigned a unique identifier (UID) linked to the blockchain, integrated with GS1 standards such as GTIN and GS1 Digital Link. This allows consumers, importers, and regulators to access a product's complete journey through a single QR code, while enhancing anti-counterfeiting and anti-imitation capabilities in the market.

A key distinction is that NDATrace operates on NDAChain, blockchain infrastructure owned by Vietnam. Rather than relying on foreign public blockchains, data is managed on a domestic platform with PoA-qBFT consensus, and a validator network with clearly identified entities and defined legal accountability. This approach strengthens data sovereignty, ensures compliance with Vietnamese law, and creates a trusted foundation for national-scale traceability systems.

NDATrace is also designed to help enterprises meet the increasingly stringent requirements of export markets. By building a "digital product passport," the platform enables transparency of production, processing, and distribution data, facilitating compliance with traceability requirements from Japan, the European Union, and emerging regulations such as EUDR and the Digital Product Passport.

Importantly, NDATrace preserves the core values already proven in practice: timestamped data with digital proof, verifiable provenance, QR code access without app installation, and real-time product journey tracking. The difference is that NDATrace elevates these values from individual models to national scale, with standardization, interoperability, and data sovereignty guaranteed for the entire Vietnamese goods ecosystem.

Lychees and the billion-dollar challenge for Vietnamese agricultural products

Lychee is one of Vietnam's key export crops, linked to high-value markets in Japan, the US, Australia, and the EU. But lychee is also a commodity sensitive to seasonal conditions, quality consistency, and brand reputation, a single compromised shipment can affect an entire growing region. Blockchain-based traceability on the national blockchain is the "trust shield": helping to maintain price, protect market access, and elevate the standing of Vietnamese lychees.

Mr. Men's model shows the way; NDATrace provides the means for the entire industry to travel that path together. From lychees, this approach can be scaled to durian, coffee, rice, mango, and every export agricultural product, each needing a trustworthy digital passport to win over global markets.

How should enterprises and cooperatives get started?

First steps for enterprises and cooperatives

For farming households, cooperatives, and agricultural enterprises, the lesson from the Bac Ninh lychee model is clear: the transition should begin with standardizing product data through GS1 barcodes and GTIN, digitizing production, harvesting, and transportation processes, and then connecting that data to a verifiable traceability platform. When data is standardized from the outset, meeting the requirements of export markets and emerging supply chain transparency regulations becomes significantly more manageable.

Choosing a shared traceability infrastructure like NDATrace also helps enterprises avoid data fragmentation or dependence on isolated solutions that are difficult to scale in the future. At the same time, data is managed under a unified standard with interoperability and data sovereignty assured from the earliest stages of deployment.

For regulators and local authorities, this is an opportune moment to guide growing regions, cooperatives, and enterprises to participate in a unified traceability infrastructure together. When data is standardized at the raw material zone and supply chain level, not only does the value of individual products increase, it also contributes to building the local agricultural brand and Vietnam's agricultural brand on the international stage.

Digital trust for Vietnamese agricultural products in the global market

The story of a Bac Ninh farmer bringing lychees onto blockchain combined with GS1 standards is a notable milestone for Vietnam's digital agriculture. This success demonstrates that digital data-based traceability is no longer an experimental concept,it has become a practical tool enabling agricultural products to meet the increasingly demanding requirements of international markets.

However, for pioneering models to move beyond individual cases, Vietnam needs a unified, standardized traceability infrastructure with national-scale interoperability. NDATrace, built on the NDAChain national blockchain platform, is designed to become that infrastructure layer, giving every product a verifiable, transparent, and trustworthy "digital passport."

From lychees and coffee beans to rice and durian, future competitive value will lie not only in product quality but in the ability to prove that quality through data. A trustworthy traceability system will be the foundation for Vietnamese agricultural products to hold their existing markets, expand into new ones, and strengthen their position in the global supply chain.

👉 Learn more about NDATrace and blockchain-based traceability solutions on the national blockchain platform at https://ndachain.vn/en