Translation
Original language
19.04.2026
ArgoNet BRICS Project: A Technological Platform for a New Architecture in Agrifood Trade
Preamble
I can see why agricultural business of BRICS states has so far failed to live up to its full potential. There are four specific barriers blocking its growth: logistics fragmentation that eats up almost 50% of small exporters’ profit; paperwork processing taking a month because of a regulatory maze; financial fragmentation that increases the cost of transactions by 5-7% as businesses have to use go-betweens; and informational non-transparency prevents the success of some companies from becoming a publicly available experience. AgroNet BRICS is a digital API platform designed to handle all four problems at once. It does not create new markets; instead, it radically cuts costs and the time needed to access the existing market thereby transforming political will to achieve multipolarity into daily profits for thousands of entrepreneurs.
Relevance: Four Measurable Barriers
1. Logistics inefficiency. The World Bank’s 2024 report “Shrinking Economic Distance” states that transportation costs for small parties in the EAEU-Asia corridors are 40-50% higher than average because of unconsolidated shipments and infrastructure gaps. UNCTAD’s 2025 report “The potential of the GSTP: The case of agricultural trade” notes that the countries of the Global South have significant unfulfilled potential in agricultural trade estimating it at $ 21.9 bn. for Africa (43% of the intraregional exports, 2021).
2. Complicated regulations. Obtaining phytosanitary and customs paperwork takes up to 30 business days. Each stage carries the risk of the transaction breaking down incurring direct financial losses. The export of raw materials is on the rise (Russia’s fertilizer exports into BRICS grew by over 60% in 2022-2024), which requires simplifying procedures accordingly to sell finished products.
3. Financial fragmentation. Absence of unified solutions for payments and for trade financing in national currencies forces parties to use go-betweens, which increases transaction costs by 5-7% (the World Bank’s data for 2024) and creates critical cash flow gaps for small businesses.
4. Informational fragmentation. The success of local exporters (such as Rassvet Ltd. and Belorechenskoe JSAC in the Irkutsk region) is not widely publicized. If a given commodity does not leave a verifiable digital trace, its success story cannot be publicized, and trade is being built on paper trust.
The description of the idea: The platform will be set up as a set of programming interfaces (APIs). AgroNet BRICS is not a consolidated app, but an ecosystem of interconnected services accessible via a programming interface (API) to be integrated with national systems (such as Merkury Federal State Information System in Russia) and business apps.
The “Supply Chain Digital Passport” module (the digital twin’s API). Blockchain is used to create a given shipment’s indelible trace. Each link in the chain (the manufacturer, the lab, the customs) inputs hashed data. It is not “building up trust,” it is a technological solution for automated verification of all accompanying documents, which cuts the customs inspection time.
The “Intelligent Logistics Aggregator” module. The system uses algorithms for optimizing multimodal shipping and for cargo pooling. It automatically pools applications from various manufacturers into a single container of an optimal size travelling the optimal route and calculates cost and time parameters for each participant.
The “Regulatory Navigator” module. This is the core of the platform. The system uses machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze relevant request databases of importer countries. Upon receiving information about a commodity, it automatically generates a full package of pre-filled documents that need only to be verified and signed. It cuts the administrative workload by 80-90% (similarly to the pilot projects of the Singapore customs where artificial intelligence cut the freight processing times).
BRICS Pay+ financial router. This module ensures seamless integration with current and prospective systems. His principal task is routing payments via the developing BRICS Pay in order to minimize currency risks and costs. At the same time, the router supports the option of directly clearing payments in national currencies and experimental transactions in digital financial assets (DFA) for pilot transactions. At the same time, it integrates application for commercial funding to form a transaction pool, which makes such transactions attractive for BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB).
Specific implementation proposals: stage-by-stage plan with a focus on financial engineering
Stage 1 (2026-2027): Pilot launch and fine-tuning the financial model.
1. Participants: 20-30 enterprises from the Irkutsk Region, the Republic of Buryatia; trial hookup for a group of importers from Heilongjiang Province (China) and Dornod and Selenge aimags (Mongolia).
2. Key metrics: average time between signing a contract and shipping drops from 45 to 14 days.
3. A financial mechanism (collateral pool): we propose replacing direct subsidies with a targeted “AgroNet Collateral Pool” supported by VEB.RF and MSP Bank.
Mechanism:
3.1. A transaction verified through the platform’s blockchain module is granted the “Verified” status.
3.2. The Collateral Pool offers partner banks a coverage of up to 70% of risks for verified transactions.
3.3. The bank issues a preferential loan to the exporter to top up its operating assets. The return is ensured by charging the platform’s fee (0.5-1% of the turnover).
Stage 2 (2028-2030): Scaling and integration.
1. Connecting agricultural clusters in Brazil (Mato Grosso), India (Panjab), South Africa (the Western Cape). The platform’s API is directly integrated with national systems.
2. Key metrics: Signing a framework agreement on mutual recognition of digital certificates generated by the platform.
Stage (2031-2035): Becoming the sectoral standard.
1. Adapting the platform for African countries: developing a light mobile interface and integration with local payment systems.
2. Key goal: bringing to the platform no less than 40% of all non-Chinese agricultural exports between the countries of the Global South. Accumulated data will make it possible to develop alternative price indicators for key commodities.
Summary and expected effects
The AgroNet BRICS project is a technological implementation of key trends identified on the Open Dialogue experts’ agenda:
1. The core of the New World Trade Architecture: decentralizing supply chain.
2. The “Economy Platformization” tool in the real sector.
3. A technological response to the “Global Demographic Disaster”: creating high-tech jobs in rural areas.
4. A ready-made “Investment Platform for Africa” that translates abstract investment mandates into specific verified transactions.
Quantitative assessment of the overall effects by 2035:
1. The economic effect: involving additional $45+ bn. in agrifood exports in the turnover between BRICS+ countries (BRICS trade growth potential based on its 40% share of the global GDP). Creating a new business services market worth $3-5 bn. a year.
2. The social effect: creating no fewer than 300,000 new jobs in digital logistics, agricultural analytics, and financial technologies (calculated using the World Bank’s methodology, World Development Report 2019 оn changing nature of work).
3. The political effect: De-facto technical standard for sovereign digital trade is developed, which bolsters the bargaining positions of the member states.
Conclusion
AgroNet BRICS is an infrastructural project on the “digital railway” level. Its value consists not in a new idea of a marketplace, its values lies in systemic engineering that transforms political will toward multipolarity into daily and profitable commercial operations for thousands of entrepreneurs. Yet its true significance consists in creating a joint digital asset for the countries of the Global Majority. This is a practical step whereby the world transitions from declarations of multipolar world to building its real, working infrastructure where technological sovereignty serves as a foundation for economic growth and mutual trust.
I can see why agricultural business of BRICS states has so far failed to live up to its full potential. There are four specific barriers blocking its growth: logistics fragmentation that eats up almost 50% of small exporters’ profit; paperwork processing taking a month because of a regulatory maze; financial fragmentation that increases the cost of transactions by 5-7% as businesses have to use go-betweens; and informational non-transparency prevents the success of some companies from becoming a publicly available experience. AgroNet BRICS is a digital API platform designed to handle all four problems at once. It does not create new markets; instead, it radically cuts costs and the time needed to access the existing market thereby transforming political will to achieve multipolarity into daily profits for thousands of entrepreneurs.
Relevance: Four Measurable Barriers
1. Logistics inefficiency. The World Bank’s 2024 report “Shrinking Economic Distance” states that transportation costs for small parties in the EAEU-Asia corridors are 40-50% higher than average because of unconsolidated shipments and infrastructure gaps. UNCTAD’s 2025 report “The potential of the GSTP: The case of agricultural trade” notes that the countries of the Global South have significant unfulfilled potential in agricultural trade estimating it at $ 21.9 bn. for Africa (43% of the intraregional exports, 2021).
2. Complicated regulations. Obtaining phytosanitary and customs paperwork takes up to 30 business days. Each stage carries the risk of the transaction breaking down incurring direct financial losses. The export of raw materials is on the rise (Russia’s fertilizer exports into BRICS grew by over 60% in 2022-2024), which requires simplifying procedures accordingly to sell finished products.
3. Financial fragmentation. Absence of unified solutions for payments and for trade financing in national currencies forces parties to use go-betweens, which increases transaction costs by 5-7% (the World Bank’s data for 2024) and creates critical cash flow gaps for small businesses.
4. Informational fragmentation. The success of local exporters (such as Rassvet Ltd. and Belorechenskoe JSAC in the Irkutsk region) is not widely publicized. If a given commodity does not leave a verifiable digital trace, its success story cannot be publicized, and trade is being built on paper trust.
The description of the idea: The platform will be set up as a set of programming interfaces (APIs). AgroNet BRICS is not a consolidated app, but an ecosystem of interconnected services accessible via a programming interface (API) to be integrated with national systems (such as Merkury Federal State Information System in Russia) and business apps.
The “Supply Chain Digital Passport” module (the digital twin’s API). Blockchain is used to create a given shipment’s indelible trace. Each link in the chain (the manufacturer, the lab, the customs) inputs hashed data. It is not “building up trust,” it is a technological solution for automated verification of all accompanying documents, which cuts the customs inspection time.
The “Intelligent Logistics Aggregator” module. The system uses algorithms for optimizing multimodal shipping and for cargo pooling. It automatically pools applications from various manufacturers into a single container of an optimal size travelling the optimal route and calculates cost and time parameters for each participant.
The “Regulatory Navigator” module. This is the core of the platform. The system uses machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze relevant request databases of importer countries. Upon receiving information about a commodity, it automatically generates a full package of pre-filled documents that need only to be verified and signed. It cuts the administrative workload by 80-90% (similarly to the pilot projects of the Singapore customs where artificial intelligence cut the freight processing times).
BRICS Pay+ financial router. This module ensures seamless integration with current and prospective systems. His principal task is routing payments via the developing BRICS Pay in order to minimize currency risks and costs. At the same time, the router supports the option of directly clearing payments in national currencies and experimental transactions in digital financial assets (DFA) for pilot transactions. At the same time, it integrates application for commercial funding to form a transaction pool, which makes such transactions attractive for BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB).
Specific implementation proposals: stage-by-stage plan with a focus on financial engineering
Stage 1 (2026-2027): Pilot launch and fine-tuning the financial model.
1. Participants: 20-30 enterprises from the Irkutsk Region, the Republic of Buryatia; trial hookup for a group of importers from Heilongjiang Province (China) and Dornod and Selenge aimags (Mongolia).
2. Key metrics: average time between signing a contract and shipping drops from 45 to 14 days.
3. A financial mechanism (collateral pool): we propose replacing direct subsidies with a targeted “AgroNet Collateral Pool” supported by VEB.RF and MSP Bank.
Mechanism:
3.1. A transaction verified through the platform’s blockchain module is granted the “Verified” status.
3.2. The Collateral Pool offers partner banks a coverage of up to 70% of risks for verified transactions.
3.3. The bank issues a preferential loan to the exporter to top up its operating assets. The return is ensured by charging the platform’s fee (0.5-1% of the turnover).
Stage 2 (2028-2030): Scaling and integration.
1. Connecting agricultural clusters in Brazil (Mato Grosso), India (Panjab), South Africa (the Western Cape). The platform’s API is directly integrated with national systems.
2. Key metrics: Signing a framework agreement on mutual recognition of digital certificates generated by the platform.
Stage (2031-2035): Becoming the sectoral standard.
1. Adapting the platform for African countries: developing a light mobile interface and integration with local payment systems.
2. Key goal: bringing to the platform no less than 40% of all non-Chinese agricultural exports between the countries of the Global South. Accumulated data will make it possible to develop alternative price indicators for key commodities.
Summary and expected effects
The AgroNet BRICS project is a technological implementation of key trends identified on the Open Dialogue experts’ agenda:
1. The core of the New World Trade Architecture: decentralizing supply chain.
2. The “Economy Platformization” tool in the real sector.
3. A technological response to the “Global Demographic Disaster”: creating high-tech jobs in rural areas.
4. A ready-made “Investment Platform for Africa” that translates abstract investment mandates into specific verified transactions.
Quantitative assessment of the overall effects by 2035:
1. The economic effect: involving additional $45+ bn. in agrifood exports in the turnover between BRICS+ countries (BRICS trade growth potential based on its 40% share of the global GDP). Creating a new business services market worth $3-5 bn. a year.
2. The social effect: creating no fewer than 300,000 new jobs in digital logistics, agricultural analytics, and financial technologies (calculated using the World Bank’s methodology, World Development Report 2019 оn changing nature of work).
3. The political effect: De-facto technical standard for sovereign digital trade is developed, which bolsters the bargaining positions of the member states.
Conclusion
AgroNet BRICS is an infrastructural project on the “digital railway” level. Its value consists not in a new idea of a marketplace, its values lies in systemic engineering that transforms political will toward multipolarity into daily and profitable commercial operations for thousands of entrepreneurs. Yet its true significance consists in creating a joint digital asset for the countries of the Global Majority. This is a practical step whereby the world transitions from declarations of multipolar world to building its real, working infrastructure where technological sovereignty serves as a foundation for economic growth and mutual trust.
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