Menu
Tracing Cocoa & Chocolate
Cargill, in support of their Cargill Cocoa Promise Program, deployed Farmforce across their Cote d’Ivoire smallholder cocoa program in 2017. They aimed to enable barcode-based, bag-level traceability back to individual farmers in their entire cocoa supply chain in Cote d’Ivoire in order to proactively address sustainability challenges while ensuring cocoa is grown to UTZ and Rainforest Alliance certification standards. Starting with a four-cooperative pilot, the ICT solution is now used extensively across over 130 cooperatives to support field-level visibility with over 250,000 smallholder cocoa farmers.
Developed through an iterative process, Cargill’s new M&E system on the Farmforce platform launched in Cote d’Ivoire in January 2021. Moving beyond the previous Cooperative Management System (CMS, launched with Farmforce in 2017), this new global enterprise solution enables Cargill to have concise operational visibility all the way to the farmer’s field, across regions, hundreds of cooperatives and potentially millions of farmers.
Now with consolidated data warehousing, the M&E system includes customizable management dashboards to manage Cargill’s cocoa sourcing operations across West Africa. It connects all the cooperatives Cargill partners with into one system, facilitating analysis and assessments at an aggregate level. The ability to display, analyze and take actions on real-time data, with built-in security control levels, is critical for any organization to have visibility over global sourcing operations.
The solution integrates new layers of visibility on farming operations, with tools to proactively combat deforestation and achieve sustainable land use practices through mapping field locations in proximity to National Parks, rivers, and other natural features. Exciting new survey functionality will also support farmer livelihood research and more transparent certifications with Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade, and others.
Farmforce’s data collection capability at farmer and cooperative levels allows transparent certification and quota monitoring of 100,000s of producers across countries, all on one platform. This enterprise M&E solution overcomes the scalability challenge faced by global companies working in diverse geographies. The M&E solution provides greater assurance that the farmers involved in the cocoa supply chain are producing sustainability, with better quality of life for farmers and communities.
Cargill and Farmforce collectively see accountability to sustainability commitments and improving the quality of the supply chain and livelihood of farmers as their primary objectives for a traceability system.
Our partnership lets us connect our strengths. Due to Cargill’s unique position at the center of the cocoa sector, they are able to foster a connection between all players in the value chain, from farmers to customers. Cargill works closely with cocoa farmers, day in, day out. They know what farmers grow, how it’s grown, and what cocoa farming communities need to keep making cocoa more sustainable. Combined with Farmforce expertise in food’s first mile we are able to constantly innovate. Farmforce listens and analyzes the challenges, curates a team tailored for the needs, builds pragmatic solutions, and implements with a passion for customer success.
The first mile traceability of the agriculture supply chain of cocoa is where reliable data is key and Farmforce makes that possible for Cargill. Cargill can trace its cocoa back through the cooperatives to individual farmers. Farmers have a unique farmer ID linked to the GPS location of their farm and this is attached to each lot’s purchase information. With the implementation of bag level traceability in the direct sustainable supply chain, Cargill ensures that the farmer’s identity is connected throughout the supply chain.
This digital transparency allows Cargill to differentiate its cocoa and ensure its traceability. It is innovation of the M&E system that allows Cargill to more effectively track and monitor their progress in achieving their cocoa sustainability goals.
The value of Cargill’s traceability system lies in connecting origin data with data on sustainability characteristics like good agricultural practices, location of farms, and social conditions in producing communities. These linkages enable Cargill to target their interventions based on risk assessments and where the most impact can be had.
Cargill’s journey on the first mile with Farmforce continues with continued innovation as they move toward their 2030 goal to reach 100% traceability from farm to first point of purchase for both direct and indirect supply chains. All of this will help ensure a lasting connection between farmers and those who consume their products – even if they live a world away.
At Farmforce, food’s first mile is our passion. Our SaaS solutions provide organizations with the confidence to secure sustainable sourcing, improve farmer quality of life and protect the environment. We turn data into tools, which means more vetted acres, more measurable impact on communities, more financial opportunities for farmers, and more clarity for customers. We believe in building a better food supply where it starts. Providing the confidence that comes from knowing the facts about your food sourcing operations in the first mile.
Farmforce customers span 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America. With over nine years of experience now managing over 700,000 farmers in 45 crop value chains in 15 languages on our platform. A continuous loop of innovation with our customers in the center of food’s first mile journey.