Geographic Information System for the Production of Cacao - Bolivia

The CEIBO association exports cocoa to various countries. This exportation benefits a large number of smallholders in Alto Beni Province, Bolivia. An increase in quality and, hence, income, could be obtained from organic certification of these cocoa growers. This process is time-consuming and complicated. The installation of a geographic information system (GIS) with real-time data capturing and input into the central database of socio-economic and production data of these farmers aims to streamline this process of certification.

Until the introduction of the GIS database, collecting farmers' data used to be a tedious and time-consuming process, also given the large number of farmers eligible for the Fair Trade label (currently over 2,200) and given the fact that eight forms needed to be filled out per farmer for the information to be complete.

The CEIBO project is in independent continuation since January 2007. The GIS database of the project exists and is functional, but a large quantity of information still needs to be updated and completed. Also, a number of new cooperatives have been associated with El CEIBO and data of farmers belonging to these cooperatives still need to be captured. This was part of a proposal to the Inter American Development Bank with the purpose of consolidating results of the first phase of the project. The proposal was not accepted, though.

Given the huge, mostly self-imposed, administrative requirements, leading to only one family per day being sampled, el CEIBO is hesitant to provide its own resources for inputting missing data, which has led to a stalemate in defining further cooperation.

Up until the introduction of the GIS database, collecting farmers' data used to be a tedious and time-consuming business, as there were more than 1,200 farmers eligible for the Fair Trade label in the framework of the project and given the fact that eight forms needed to be filled out per farmer for the information to be complete.

The project aimed to create and maintain a Geographical Information System (GIS) database with socio-economic data on smallholder cacao producers in Alto Beni Province for certification for the Fair Trade label. The El CEIBO project is in independent continuation.

The GIS database of the El CEIBO project exists and is functional, but part of the required information still needs to be updated and completed. Eleven new cooperatives have recently been added

A proposal for follow-up funding of the GIS database was formulated by IICD and presented to the Inter-American Development Bank. The proposal aimed at consolidating results of the first project phase and also at introducing a new technological component using PDAs in the field which are connected to the Internet, so that farmers' data, GPS data in particular, can be uploaded to the database in real time. This proposal has not been accepted, though. Funding is still sought for funding the filling of the backlog of the project and also to keep up with input of new cooperatives and families linking up with El CEIBO.

Results have been:

• Organic cocoa producers, both certified and in transition, now can be registered in the GIS database holding geographic, product and social information.
• Six coffee and quinua producer organisations developed internal processes for organic certification and for the Fair Trade label based on the GIS application.
• Promoters and technicians have been capacitated in the use of the GIS system and, as a result, work more efficiently in capturing data.
• External certifying bodies can rely on timely and correct information.
• Organisations can reduce certification costs and strengthen their position on the international market.
• The various experiences and certification have been documented.

• Implementing a GIS database for improved internal control of organic certification of cocoa growers in Bolivia.
• Replicating the database so as to include quinoa and coffee growers in Bolivia.
• To systematise the experiences collected so far.

The El Ceibo association exports cocoa to various countries. This exportation benefits to a large number of smallholders in Alto Beni Province, Bolivia. The business plan indicated that an increase in quality and, hence, income, could be obtained from organic certification of these cocoa growers. This process is time-consuming and complicated. The installation of a GIS system with real-time data capturing and input into the central database is to streamline this process of certification.

Read more about IICD's Bolivia Country Programme.

Read more about IICD's approach towards Livelihoods.

Although the database was in place at the end of the first phase, many data still have to be entered. Projections of time required for this have been too optimistic. As a result, the database is not as functional and operational as it should have been.

Also, contacts with the Bolivian certification organism have not been very close in the implementation phase, resulting in less gain of time than could have been the case, since the final certifcation by this organism is still the weakest link.

As there is a considerable gap between the first phase and the projected continuation, part of the project personnel is now dispersed, resulting in loss of know-how. This means that new training will have to be included in a possible second phase. Ideally, end-users should also receive training in accessing data in the database.

The El Ceibo Cooperation is the umbrella organisation of 37 farmer cooperatives (mainly cacao) in Alto Beni, a province north-east of La Paz.