In Côte d’Ivoire, the cocoa supply chain spans territories, communities, and expertise that often remain far removed from the view of those who encounter the product only at the end of its journey. Before becoming chocolate, ice cream, or an ingredient for the food industry, cocoa passes through farms, cooperatives, warehouses, exporters, and processors. At each stage, essential information is generated on product origin, cultivation areas, batches, movements, and the relationships between supply chain actors.
This is the context for Trusty’s mission in Côte d’Ivoire as part of Green Horizons: Training, Employment and Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Côte d’Ivoire, a project promoted by Associazione Centro ELIS and supported by the Italian Ministry of the Interior – Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration.
Over two weeks, Imma Pagano and Salwa Lamkabber, together with Andrea Mecozzi, our cocoa supply chain expert, met with local organizations, cooperatives, and industry operators to gain a deeper understanding of on-the-ground processes and prepare the activities related to the implementation of the Trusty platform.
Green Horizons and the Cocoa Supply Chain
Green Horizons was created to support the development of the green economy in Côte d’Ivoire by promoting training, decent work, and sustainable entrepreneurship. Within this framework, Trusty contributes its experience in the digitalization of agri-food and industrial supply chains, with a specific focus on cocoa traceability and the management of the information required under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
For supply chains serving the European market, the EUDR introduces a new approach: knowing where raw materials come from is no longer enough. Their origin must also be documented through structured and verifiable data. In the case of cocoa, this means linking the product to its production areas and demonstrating that it is not associated with deforestation or forest degradation.
Digital traceability therefore becomes an operational tool for organizing this information and making it usable throughout the supply chain.
The Field Mission
The mission combined institutional meetings, operational visits, and awareness-raising activities on the EUDR.
One of the stops was OCEAN SA, an exporting company that works with Yosran, one of the cooperatives involved in Green Horizons. The meeting provided an opportunity to explore the role of exporters in connecting local production, supply chain flows, and access to the European market.
The mission then continued with visits to organic cocoa plantations and warehouses, where the product is collected, organized, and prepared for the next stages of the supply chain. These visits made it possible to assess the information already available, understand how it is generated throughout the supply chain, and identify which data can be integrated and leveraged within the Trusty platform.
Engaging with local stakeholders also helped raise awareness of the EUDR, clarifying the role of data in demonstrating compliance and laying the groundwork for the next activities with Yosran and SCOOP BANDAMA, the cooperatives selected as part of the project.
From Process Knowledge to Digital Traceability
A traceability platform is effective when it reflects how the supply chain actually works. In the case of cocoa, as with other commodities covered by the EUDR, information is not abstract: it is connected to people, plots of land, farming practices, deliveries, storage, transport, and commercial relationships.
For this reason, as part of Green Horizons, Trusty provides its traceability platform, adapting it to the specific needs of the Ivorian cocoa supply chain. The goal is to make data collection and management consistent with local processes, while ensuring that the information can also be used to meet EUDR requirements.
Technology and Impact
Green Horizons builds on a path that Trusty has already begun in Côte d’Ivoire. Previous initiatives include Fair & Trusty Trade, a project carried out between 2021 and 2023 and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, created to promote a fair and transparent cocoa supply chain model through digital traceability, the enhancement of organic cocoa, and stronger dialogue between local cooperatives and European buyers.
This continuity reflects Trusty’s identity as a Benefit Corporation and its approach to innovation across supply chains. Technology is not something imposed from outside existing processes, but a tool that can make information more accessible, strengthen transparency, and support balanced relationships among the stakeholders involved.
Within Green Horizons, this vision translates into practical work on digital traceability, designed to support cooperatives and producers in managing EUDR requirements and making better use of the information that describes the origin, quality, and journey of cocoa.
Through this mission, Trusty reaffirms its commitment to working alongside cocoa supply chain stakeholders, bringing expertise, technology, and a vision focused on sustainability, transparency, and local development directly to the field.
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