Leveraging blockchain for strategic transformation in agricultural governance and sustainability: A PRISMA-guided, PICO-informed thematic meta-synthesis of developing economies

Blockchain technology holds transformative potential for enhancing transparency, efficiency, and sustainability in public-sector agriculture. This study investigates how blockchain can be strategically embedded within agricultural governance systems in developing economies, where policy implementation is often hindered by fragmented data infrastructures, institutional inefficiencies, and limited transparency. Using a PRISMA-guided, PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes) informed qualitative meta-synthesis of 50 peer-reviewed studies (2014–2024), the research identifies six strategic domains: governance and trust, operational efficiency, data integration, smart contracts, sustainability, and stakeholder inclusion. Across these domains, blockchain enables traceability, deters corruption, automates subsidy distribution, and facilitates environmental monitoring. These findings build on prior research emphasizing blockchain’s institutional value in public auditing and decentralized decision-making (Shang & Price, 2019; Mavilia & Pisani, 2022). However, challenges such as high deployment costs, digital literacy gaps, and infrastructure constraints remain significant. The study concludes that blockchain — when aligned with national digital transformation agendas and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; notably SDG 6 and 13) — can serve as a policy-enabling infrastructure for inclusive, transparent, and sustainable agricultural governance, with broader applicability to other developing contexts.