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form, it gives users insights into who the field to improve and maintain qual-
contributed to a particular coffee offer ity and productivity.
and what prices were paid. This year Beyco also added an
The team behind Beyco created a ‘Financier profile, to connect credit lines
solution that not only integrates traceabil- digitally. “The launch of the financier
ity and transparency throughout the profile is a dream come true” says Isabel.
chain, but one that also enables access to “When producer organisations have
market and finance for producer organi- credit lines available related to their
sations. I had a chat with Isabel van Bem- export contracts, it makes it easier for
melen, Managing Director at Progreso them to buy the coffee from their mem-
Foundation, about what this means. bers during harvest period and export it
“We see a lot of demand for trans- on time, for the requested quality. With-
parency and traceability in the coffee out liquidity, it is hard, if not impossible
sector but I think it’s important to un- for producer organisations to manage.
derstand who owns the data and who is That is why it is essential to have access
really benefiting from it,” says Isabel. to both the market and credit lines, at
The Beyco app and platform can the same time.”
be used for traceability and transparen- As Isabel notes, the objective is
cy, but according to Isabel it has mainly that data may support the producers in
been developed with the objective to getting access to better prices, but also
connect farmers and their organizations to finance, which is essential for produc-
to markets and finance. This is essential er organisations in order to export their
to be able to develop sustainable trade coffees, but also for buyers to receive the
relationships and make investments in coffee they need.

It’s important Connecting Farmers to Mar- since its launch in 2018, with almost
Beyco has continued to grow
kets and Finance
to understand 600 users. It has engaged over 340
So, how exactly can coffee produc- sellers from various parts of the world
who owns ers use the data generated by digital tools including Latin America, Eastern Af-
to their benefit? To understand what this rica, and South-East Asia and 250
the data and translates to, I reached out to Progreso. buyers from different parts of the
Progreso is an Amsterdam-based NGO world including Europe, North Amer-
who is really with over 20 years experience in coffee ica, and Eastern Asia.
Further to that, two years ago
benefiting and cocoa value chains, providing access Progreso developed an app for farmers
to market and finance for smallholder
from it. farm households. In 2018, the foundation which is connected to Beyco. The app’s
launched the Beyco “Beyond Coffee”
purpose is to facilitate traceability of
platform to increase digital inclusion in coffee up to the farm level but most
the coffee sector and allow producer importantly, the app is being used as an
organizations to form smart contracts internal management tool, as it records
using blockchain technology. not only deliveries and payments, but
By using a shared ledger system for also internal credits for the farmers.
smart digital contract formation, the Beyco This data synchronises with a
platform enables data collection and man- dashboard which allows the producer
agement throughout the supply chain, with organisations to manage their informa-
encrypted track records of all transactions tion and group their deliveries. By
for both sellers and buyers. connecting this app to the Beyco plat-

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