Unlike many initiatives that fade out once funding ends, the digital traceability model implemented by Trusty for the Yosran cooperative in Côte d’Ivoire as part of the Fair & Trusty Trade project, formally completed in 2023, has proven to be naturally sustainable.
During the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons, the Yosran cooperative maintained both the premium price and stable volumes of 100 tonnes of traced organic cocoa. This made it possible to invest in the future of local communities through training initiatives, the creation of a collective composting centre, and an organic nursery owned by the cooperative.
Esiste un filo invisibile che unisce le piantagioni della Costa d’Avorio alle tavole dei consumatori europei. Per i 158 produttori della cooperativa Yosran in Costa d’Avorio, questo legame ha smesso di essere un’incognita per diventare una certezza digitale. Grazie al progetto Fair & Trusty Trade, finanziato dalla Cooperazione italiana attraverso l’Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS) in collaborazione con Apio S.r.l. e la Società Benefit Trusty che sfrutta la blockchain per la tracciabilità e la sostenibilità delle filiere agroalimentari e industriali, il cacao coltivato su 418 ettari di territorio ivoriano ha trovato una nuova dignità.
Yosran’s regenerative model
The real change lies in the cooperative’s ability to tell its story through data. Through the project, Trusty introduced a digital system that monitors the entire supply chain, from production to the final customer. Every step, from harvesting across 186 plantations to shipment to Europe, is now digitally recorded through field data collection using mobile devices.
This transparency has gone far beyond a purely technical exercise: immediate access to the Slow Food network and Made in Dignity certification on blockchain have enabled Yosran to engage directly with major Italian retailers and leading partners such as Domori SpA.
The real strength of the project, however, becomes clear over the long term. While many initiatives come to an end once funding runs out, Fair & Trusty Trade — formally completed in 2023 — has proven to be naturally sustainable. During the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons, the Yosran cooperative maintained stable volumes of 100 tonnes of traced organic cocoa, while preserving the premium price that makes the difference between subsistence and development.
“The economic value generated was immediately returned to the land and the community. It was not just about redistributing profits, but about planting the seeds of the future. Thanks to the resources generated through traceability, members created the area’s first collective composting centre and an organic nursery owned by the cooperative. At the same time, technical training was also provided to help farmers tackle the pathogens threatening their crops with new tools, thereby protecting both biodiversity and plantation yields,” says Estelle Konan, General Secretary of the Yosran cooperative.
A vision for the future
“Today, every sack of cocoa leaving Côte d’Ivoire carries a QR code. But that code holds more than just the origin of a product - it tells the story of a cooperative that has learned to manage its own data, access credit, and train its members independently. It is proof that cocoa can stop being just a commodity and once again become the lifeblood of a community engaging with the global market with pride and expertise,” says Andrea Mecozzi, Italian cocoa sourcer and Founder and Coordinator of Chocofair, one of the organisations involved in the Fair & Trusty Trade project.
Even in the face of the new and increasingly stringent European anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR), the small-scale farming reality of Yosran proved ready, showing that company size is not a barrier when supported by the right technological vision.
The Fair & Trusty Trade project and its results were presented by Trusty and Estelle Konan at Italia Africa Business Week 2026.
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