Sierra Leone & Trinidad and Tobago Cacao Bean Tracking Solution

Sierra Leone

Partner
Funder: USAID
Funding Mechanism: LASER (Long-term Assistance and Services for Research) PULSE (Partners for University-Led Solutions Engine)
Funder: Australia Direct Aid Program (Ghana)

COMMODITY

Cacao

duration

9 months

users

25 (Farmers, processors, importers, supply chain members)

solution

AgUnity App V.3, IoT Devices, MarketPlace

Key Industry Fact

40-50 million people depend on the cocoa industry as their primary source of income.

Challenges we solve

Smallholder cocoa farmers often sell dry beans without knowledge of the requirements of the processors downstream.

Additionally, downstream processors often do not have sufficient information on the produce they receive and therefore are unable to segment it based on quality and growing practices, instead choosing to aggregate and process it all together and sell at a low price.

Commodity buyers are then reluctant to pay anything more than the bare minimum price for cocoa when they have no information on how the produce was grown and if it was stored and processed correctly. Many of these transactions also occur without the use of receipts and a method to record transaction details which often leads to errors and disputes.

Objectives

Develop and deploy a technology solution based on AgUnity’s V.3 app, integrating IoT devices at the process level, incorporating the following features:

  1. Registration of supply chain infrastructure and processing facilities
  2. Transaction facilitation and recording at each node of the supply chain
  3. Farmer IDs, profiles and produce certification
  4. Produce tracking - real-time data throughout supply chain to ensure quality and avoid spoilage
  5. Investigate the potential to facilitate the sale of cocoa to buyers at a higher price through provision of quality assurance

Project Scope

AgUnity started by conducting meetings with country partners to establish process maps, key stakeholders, product users and other supply chain information. Site visits were undertaken to identify any context specific issues.

During the development phase, AgUnity set up a cloud-platform secured in Blockchain, loaded relevant updates to the AgUnity App and assigned a device to each actor in the supply chain. Training manuals for the products were developed and distributed during this phase.

Where required, assistance was provided to farmers and processors in the process of finding buyers, communicating supply chain and quality assurance improvements, which in turn returned higher prices for the commodity.

Outcomes

  1. Higher Quality Cocoa
    Being able to read the internal temperature of fermentation without disturbing the live ferment via AgUnity IoT devices and tracing the product through the supply chain was welcomed with great enthusiasm.

  2. Access to Market Information
    Consistent high-quality, diversified and unique products with sufficient product volume and an efficient custody chain (without product degradation) allow both countries to establish themselves as top-class global suppliers.

  3. Greater Access to Markets
    Gaining stable access to international markets requires consistency of quality and high volume.

  4. Access to Credit and Banking
    Access to capital for equipment and incoming produce was met with strong interest from farmers and processors.

  5. Access to Benefits from Mobile Technology
    Although Sierra Leone and Trinidad & Tobago have good mobile signal coverage, only one out of four farmers engaged in Sierra Leone had a smartphone before the deployment. Digital literacy of most farmers is low, but the app is intuitive for first-time users.

“It’s exciting, we were not aware that we’ve gotten technology into cocoa production! We do have some challenges with temperatures that we face in this area: it varies extreme high and low, so being able to monitor different temperatures and record it as well is something that we can use in the future to refer to.”

MARTIN MATTHEW
COCOA FARMER

“We want all farmers in Sierra Leone to be equipped with such a platform and ability.”

OSMAN KARGBO
HEAD OF QUALITY CONTROL FOR A PROCESSOR

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