Keywords
Abstract
Digital transformation of agricultural value chains increasingly depends on information systems
that ensure transparency and integrity at settlement stages. Despite the wide adoption of digital tools in
agricultural production, final settlement processes between producers and processing enterprises often
remain fragmented, opaque, and weakly integrated with physical data acquisition infrastructure. In the
context of Uzbekistan's digital economy development agenda — particularly the "Digital Uzbekistan
2030" strategy — modernising settlement mechanisms in the raw cotton sector represents a critical
institutional priority. This study proposes a conceptual digital final settlement platform for raw cotton
procurement, integrating automated crop reception, laboratory quality assessment, transaction
verification, and analytical monitoring into a unified agricultural information system. The research
adopts a conceptual information systems approach, combining system analysis, architectural modelling,
and comparative reasoning between traditional and digitally enabled settlement mechanisms. The
scientific contribution lies in the development of a four-layer platform architecture connecting IoT-based
physical measurements with legally binding digital settlements, and in the substantiation of
permissioned blockchain technology as an information integrity mechanism. The framework provides a
theoretical foundation for improving settlement transparency, accelerating payment cycles, and
supporting real-time governance in raw cotton supply chains. The study advances agricultural
information systems research by conceptualising settlement platforms as cross-organisational digital
infrastructures.