Tracing rubber back to the farm in Ivory Coast to secure access to European market
To maintain access to the European market, Ocean - an Ivorian organisation that purchases and exports cocoa and rubber - quickly recognised the importance of tracing these products back to the farm. To help with this process, SSNUP co-financed an Alterfin project for Ocean in 2023 to strengthen traceability systems and digitalise supply chain management to support European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) compliance.
To comply with EUDR, tracing back to the origin is mandatory for traders and manufacturers placing products on the European market. However, in the rubber supply chain, achieving farm-level traceability is particularly demanding because sustainability and traceability systems remain relatively underdeveloped. In addition, the predominance of smallholder production adds significant complexity to EUDR compliance.
Ocean’s approach was to co-develop its smallholder rubber traceability protocol together with the cooperatives and processors who would ultimately use it, allowing the tool to scale to new actors without a redesign each time. The protocol provides a structured framework for tracing rubber back to its origin, defining the roles of different actors, the data to be collected, standardised documentation and verification procedures. The strategy was built jointly with one of its supplying cooperatives, ECAM cooperative, and with a rubber processor client, ASAF.
Ocean mapped 539 smallholder rubber farmers' plots, covering 1,102 hectares. Traceability brought direct financial benefits, ensuring the payment of a premium of 233 euros to each rubber farmer.
The implemented strategy resulted in an indirect additional outcome: Ocean secured more than 8 million euros in impact investment between 2023 and 2024, suggesting that traceability is a sign of trustworthiness that helps unlock larger financing as the company advances toward full EUDR compliance.