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Beyco, a new cocoa adventure in Côte d’Ivoire

From September 8th to 21st, Progreso’s Federica Marra - Senior Product Owner at Beyco - and Natan Yao - Progreso’s Project Manager for Cote d’ Ivoire - travelled from west to east across Cote d’ Ivoire, exploring cocoa plantations and meeting dedicated producers and innovative technologies along the way. 

From September 8th to 21st, Progreso’s Federica Marra – Senior Product Owner at Beyco – and Natan Yao – Progreso’s Project Manager for Cote d’ Ivoire – travelled from west to east across Cote d’ Ivoire, exploring cocoa plantations and meeting dedicated producers and innovative technologies along the way. 

We began in the mountainous, lush west, where we visited three Progreso cooperatives: DJOUMAN, SCAOD, and SCOM. These cooperatives represent sustainable agriculture and a strong sense of community.

The first two days were dedicated to training on the complete Beyco system, a digital platform aimed at improving sustainable traceability for cocoa farmers. This training, led by Federica and Natan, provided the participants, including cooperative managers and trainers, insights into how this tool can benefit their operations.

On the first day, we went through the Beyco Farmer App, a data collection and data management tool tailored to SMEs in coffee and cocoa. Through the Farmer App, the cooperatives can collect and access their own data on their members, farms, geolocations and product deliveries. This information is extremely valuable for the internal management of the cooperatives, and the streamline of their decision-making. 

On the second day, we explored the traceability platform on laptop computers. This tool provides a deeper understanding of how every cocoa bean’s journey, from plantation to final product, can be traced, highlighting the significance of each step in the supply chain.

‘’We spent two days learning a lot about the enormous potential of Beyco, especially at a time when European Union regulations may be coming into force. This platform is even more complete than we had imagined, especially as we came to this training course with a lot of preconceived ideas” said LAUBOUET Mathieu, from the SCAOD cooperative.

Beyond the technical details, these two days of exchanges with the cooperatives in western Côte d’Ivoire were memorable for the meaningful human connections made. 

The following days were dedicated to field visits to cocoa plantations. Together with the cooperative members, we revisited key aspects of the Farmer App, especially the polygon mapping. Producers participated in the visit and contributed by sharing their expertise and knowledge of their farm, this gave a personal touch to the visit. For Federica, the visit also brought the opportunity to test first-hand the data collection in the field, understand more about the cocoa farming practices and how to further improve the application to make it relevant for the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire.

Together with the cooperative members, we revisited key aspects of the Farmer App, especially mapping. It also provided Federica with valuable insights into cocoa farming.

During the second week, we travelled to the east of the country, historically known as the “cocoa loop,” where we met with the RASSO, CAMAYE, and CAADI cooperatives. These cooperatives are already advanced in their management journey and have more experience in the cocoa sector. Additionally, they have already more systems implemented and good technical equipment and knowledge. Nevertheless, Federica’s engaging presentations and hands-on activities once again impressed and convinced all participants.

‘’I was expecting yet another boring training session, especially as we other cooperatives already have traceability tools, but I must admit that Beyco is the perfect and most complete tool I’ve ever used… and we’re ready to implement it within our cooperative, despite the other platforms”, confessed Saint Parfait from the CAMAYE cooperative.

A key highlight of this stage was the participation of OIKO Credit in the two days of training. The three cooperatives mentioned earlier are also part of a project to create a cooperative union, with preparatory activities funded by OIKO Credit. 

For the project’s kick-off meeting, Carlijn and her team from OIKO travelled from Amsterdam and Abidjan to meet the cooperatives in person and deepen their understanding of both the cooperatives and Beyco. The OIKO team actively participated in the practical sessions and contributed to the discussions about Beyco.

‘’I’m completely satisfied and won over by this platform, which fills certain gaps in the traceability and even financial management of cooperatives. What’s more, even a producer with a minimum level of knowledge can use this Farmer App for his management. It’s far beyond my expectations. It would be interesting to make this platform available to more users, especially as it’s completely free” BOA AKOA, OIKO

Thanks to Progreso, we can offer a platform that is entirely free of charge and brings together all the available elements that the cooperative may need. Not only are we ready to use it, but I’d be happy to recommend it to anyone in the cocoa sector”. Alida COULIBALY, RASSO

This journey with Beyco has demonstrated that innovation is about more than just technology—it’s about collaboration and knowledge sharing. By providing cocoa producers and cooperatives with the right digital tools, we are empowering them to enhance their work and contribute to a more sustainable future.

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