Stakeholder Workshop Insights: Driving sustainability in the coffee value chain through traceability systems

On March 19, 2024, at the Clarion Hotel in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT hosted a workshop on the interoperability of traceability systems and their importance in complying with the European Union Regulation on Deforestation-Fee Products (EUDR). This workshop, titled ‘Common Interests and Joint Solutions for EUDR Compliance: A Roadmap Towards Interoperability of Traceability Systems’, gathered 33 stakeholders from various institutions involved in the coffee sector and agricultural supply chain in Honduras.

The attendees included representatives from international cooperation agencies, producer associations, exporters, private intermediaries, research and extension institutions, NGOs, government representatives, and financial organizations, as well as companies specializing in traceability solutions. These participants contributed their diverse perspectives, enriching the workshop discussions with a broad range of opinions. Their insights were fundamental in collaboratively developing a Digital Infrastructure in the Public Interest (DIPI) proposal, which aims to improve traceability and ensure compliance with environmental and commercial regulations of the EUDR, thereby promoting a sustainable and equitable future for Honduras’s coffee value chain.

In this context, the Alliance for Digital Integration of Agricultural Supply Chains (DIASCA) emerges as an initiative whose main objective is to develop common open standards that support interoperability between traceability systems. Responding to EUDR, DIASCA specialists are working on the creation and validation of solutions through reference projects covering various value chains. The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT has joined this initiative and is working with these key stakeholders in the coffee value chain in Honduras.