Barry Callebaut leverages polygon mapping to bolster sustainable cocoa and eliminate deforestation

13 Sep 2022 --- Barry Callebaut is ramping initiatives to make effective traceability across global value chains and sustainable chocolate the norm. The Swiss manufacturer is partnering with key stakeholders as it scales efforts toward achieving full transparency and traceability of cocoa using technologies such as polygon mapping and geo-localization.

Traceability to farm level, knowing where the cocoa we source is grown, is crucial in addressing structural and sustainability issues in the cocoa supply chain.

Accurate insights into cocoa sourcing, gathered through polygon mapping and geo-localization based on satellite images, are imperative for Barry Callebaut as it plans to eliminate deforestation from the cocoa supply chain.

According to the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), around half of the world cocoa bean supply is sourced indirectly by chocolate companies from independent exporters and traders, primarily due to the regulatory and licensing requirements in origin countries. 

What are the benefits of sector-wide traceability?
Tackling the complexity of the cocoa sector and enabling full traceability requires multi-stakeholder commitment and action, connecting the origin and consuming countries to cooperate closely on a broad spectrum of necessary measures. 

According to Barry Callebaut, effective traceability across the global value chains is vital to making sustainable chocolate the norm.These include precise mapping of farms through polygon mapping, data collection on farmer communities and the setup of human rights and environmental risk assessments.

Outlining the boundaries of a farm through polygon mapping helps establish its proximity to forests and potential risks of expansion into protected areas. 

Combining this information with additional data on the farmer, their family, and the community gives a solid picture of what specific farms need to transition to sustainable agricultural practices. 

These datasets are a cornerstone in developing robust risk assessments for environmental and human rights abuses in compliance with upcoming due diligence legislation.

Cocoa sector-wide traceability
Barry Callebaut has already achieved high levels of traceability in its direct supply chain. The company has been publicly disclosing the geolocation of its direct suppliers in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Cameroon since 2019.

In 2020/21, a total of 240,570 farms within 25 kilometers of a protected forest area were mapped and monitored. This has led to full traceability for cocoa beans originating from these farms. Overall, the company has reached 80% traceability to the cooperative level and 60% to the farm level and is confident in reaching full traceability across its direct supply chain by 2025.

At the same time, the company is focusing on developing projects that aim to transfer traceability know-how from its direct to its indirect supply chain. In 2021, Barry Callebaut conducted a pilot program with three vital indirect suppliers in Côte d’Ivoire. This initiative involved training our suppliers to enable precise and timely data collection.

As a result, nearly 35,000 farmers were engaged, with polygon data collected for over 18,000 farmers representing around 20,000 cocoa plots covering 45,000 hectares in total. Through this project, Barry Callebaut has gained insights into the level of traceability among indirect suppliers and how it can best assist them to improve further and scale up traceability efforts. 

As a next step, the company plans to onboard an additional nine suppliers and the cooperatives they source from and is actively engaging with legislators and supply chain actors. 

It has also contributed to the development phase of the EU Alliance on Sustainable Cocoa and its roadmap and recently signed the Côte d’Ivoire – Ghana Cocoa Initiative (CIGCI) Economic Pact, joining forces with the Ivorian and Ghanaian governments and other industry players to accelerate the transition to a living income to all farmers. 

Advancing efforts to reach a fully sustainable cocoa sector
In recent months, Barry Callebaut has also collaborated with Conseil Café Cacao (CCC) in Côte d’Ivoire on a traceability trial project that has involved sharing our farmer data for the region of Aboisso so that it can be merged with government-owned data.

“These coordinated efforts will streamline the advancement of sustainability in the cocoa sector and support making sustainable chocolate the norm,” says Steven Retzlaff, president of Global Cocoa. 

“We are proud to be a leading company implementing traceability – and to see the benefits of combining regulatory and industry initiatives in origin and consuming countries. These coordinated efforts will streamline the advancement of sustainability in the cocoa sector and support making sustainable chocolate the norm,” he concludes.

Edited by Elizabeth Green