Fair & Trusty Trade

Traceability, Transparency and Confidence in the Cocoa Supply Chain.

An ambitious project in collaboration with AICS Italian Agency for Development Cooperation that, for the first time through Blockchain technology, aims to ensure traceability of the entire supply chain and better working conditions for local communities.

Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana are the world's largest producers of cocoa, accounting for more than 60% of the world's cocoa bean supply, yet only a fraction of the huge profits remain in the African country.

Such a state of affairs highlights the unsustainability of the chocolate supply chain, a market worth around 50 billion dollars, only a tiny percentage of which goes to the main producers, small farmers who cultivate the cocoa plantations.

It is in this context that our technology partner Apio, in collaboration with Chocofair, decided to step in and use the Trusty platform. Trusty, through transparency in transactions and traceability of processes via blockchain technology, generates benefits along the entire food supply chain: every player in this market, from the local producer to the cocoa processors to the end consumer, is protected.

Food sustainability between authenticity and transparency

The topic of sustainability is not a passing fad, nor a label to attract consumers, but an increasingly deep-rooted awareness among the population.

In particular, 93% of Italians interviewed believe it is important to know the chain that brings food from the producer to their table, while 87% prefer food to come from ethical and responsible cultivation and breeding. This means they tend to look for brands that reflect them on a value level: over 70% would pay a 35% premium for sustainable and environmentally responsible brands.

With Trusty, we are committed to demonstrating how the Blockchain can provide a concrete solution to these new needs and habits.

Trusty is a platform whose aim is to optimise and track food production, in this case specifically cocoa, thanks to the support of Andrea Mecozzi, who has been involved in the world of chocolate since 2003 and founded Chocofair.

Chocofair consists of a network of producers, cooperatives and processors, spread across Italy, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Togo. Since 2013, Chocofair's objective has been to ensure a secure and traceable supply of quality cocoa from ethical and responsible production.

Together we started FAIR & TRUSTY TRADE, a project that was made possible in Côte d'Ivoire thanks to AICS Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo, which not only allows consumers to discover the history of a product through the various stages of traceability, but also allows the producer to monitor each stage of the process and certify his supplies to the next links in the chain.

"The aim of Chocofair, and of the Trusty project for Choco+, is to give value to all the players in the supply chain, from the producer to the exporter, to those who produce by choosing top quality ingredients that take them outside the traditional circuits of mass chocolate consumption," says Mecozzi, founder of Chocofair. "Everything stems from the desire to create quality supply chains that necessarily correspond to a quality product: certainly more expensive, but because this cost includes respect for the environment, work ethics and true knowledge of the raw material. Our motto is: produce less chocolate, better, and enhance the awareness of both producer and consumer.

A QR code, a chocolate bar and many stories unfolding

In order to narrow the information gap between farmers and consumers in the cocoa supply chain, we have developed a bijective platform, whereby each actor in the supply chain is both a producer and a consumer.

The app provides certified traceability via blockchain technology and has a dual functionality: in addition to supporting the producer, it improves the experience and engagement of the end customer by showing the origin and ingredients of the products.

This is a breakthrough because for the first time a tool is provided to the producer, whereby he declares all the information needed to ensure transparency and trust throughout the chain. Those who take over at a later stage receive this information without being able to change it in any way. This protects small cocoa farmers, who are victims of a market governed by speculation.

It is also a way of keeping producers up to date and enabling them to improve their business. In fact, by analysing the data collected by the platform after the fact, it is possible to provide farmers with news on market trends, thanks to which they can make their own considerations and evaluate new investments.

Ethical shopping choices are now possible thanks to technology: we at Trusty and Chocofair want to provide everyone with the best tools to make these choices a reality.

In addition to Trusty, the following actors are involved:

AICS Agenzia Italia per la Cooperazione all'Sviluppo is the public agency that deals with the promotion of international development, public aid and humanitarian emergencies. The objectives of AICS on the cooperation front are directed towards the eradication of poverty, the reduction of inequalities, the affirmation of human rights and the dignity of individuals - including gender equality and equal opportunities -, conflict prevention and support for peace processes.

Apio S.r.l.is a company that offers its know-how to national and international Big Corporate sector leaders such as A2A, Acea, Enel, Fater S.p.A, SAMP S.p.A. and research centres of the calibre of ENEA. With these the company transforms and grows, developing highly innovative products and services ranging from: Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Industry 4.0, Cloud Development and Blockchain. Apio is a technology partner of Trusty. 

Chocofair is a network of producers, cooperatives and processors aiming to ensure a secure and traceable supply of quality cocoa produced with respect for the land and people. Since 2013, we have been enabling cocoa producers to enter the European chocolate market directly - guaranteeing them fair compensation, respect for their work and sustainable development - and European chocolatiers and ice cream makers to access a high-quality, ethical and safe product directly.

Gruppo Abele is a non-profit organisation founded in Turin in 1965 by Don Luigi Ciotti. The Group works to "give a voice to the voiceless", in an attempt to combine hospitality with politics and culture. Today, the Group has about 40 activities, including communities for drug addiction problems, listening and orientation spaces, low-threshold services, projects to help victims of trafficking and migrants.

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