On 4 and 5 September, the practical workshop of the second phase of the project "..." was held.Trainer of Trainers"This is a joint initiative of the Agencia de Regulación y Control Fito y Zoosanitario del Ecuador (Agrocalidad) and AL-INVEST Verde, with technical support from Trias.

This action seeks to strengthen the process of adaptation of the Ecuadorian cocoa value chain to the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 on Deforestation Free Products (EUDR), through training, awareness-raising and the registration of production data in Agrocalidad's GUIA system. It has small and medium-sized producers.

This second edition of the Trainer of Trainers project is supported by the 125 people from the provinces of Manabí, El Oro, Guayas, Los Ríos, Esmeraldas, Santo Domingo, Orellana, Napo and Sucumbíos participated.. Of these, 40% are women and 60% are men, while 22% come from the public sector and 78% from the private sector. All participants enriched their knowledge through five thematic modules in virtual mode: EUDR, Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), Good Marketing Practices (GMP), traceability and the GUIA System.

The practical workshop, which concluded the training, was held in the canton of Milagro, at the UNOCACE collection centre in Guayas. The day began with the welcoming words of Freddy Cabello, Manager of UNOCACE, who said that "traceability processes are a key factor in maintaining competitiveness in international markets".

Subsequently, Héctor Ballesteros, regional director of Trias South America, emphasised the importance of supporting the EUDR adaptation process, recalling that "one out of every three Ecuadorian cocoa beans is exported to the European Union". In turn, Wilson Salinas, representative of Agrocalidad, stressed the need to generate reliable information that provides security and transparency on the origin of the cocoa that reaches consumers, while helping the due diligence process of European operators.

Finally, Francis Ureña, attaché of the Delegation of the European Union in Ecuador, highlighted his commitment to the mission of transferring knowledge to implementers. He also stressed that "the goal of registering at least 30,000 operators in the cocoa supply chain in Ecuador is part of this joint effort of all actors in the chain, while at the same time helping the governance of the chain".

Replicating learning

This practical workshop reinforced the participants' knowledge of the EUDR regulations and the use of various support and consultation tools, including a ChatGPT specific to the Trainer of Trainers project, the Agrocalidad GUIA system for the registration of operations of actors in the cocoa chain, as well as the QField and KoboCollect applications for the collection of information from producers and the georeferencing of farms. In addition, three plots were analysed in the open source geographic information system QGIS.

This facilitated the comparison of this information with the results of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition (MAATE) maps and the information contained in the Global Forest Watch forest monitoring platform.

One of the key commitments of the trainers is to replicate the learning with the chain actors, called implementers. To this end, working groups were organised to plan the replication workshops in 9 provinces, with a view to achieving a programme of 80 workshops in different modalities -virtual, hybrid and face-to-face- and to train some of the most 1,800 people.

Thanks to the commitment of each institution and participant, this joint work will contribute to strengthen the cocoa value chain and enhance innovation, sustainability and competitiveness, positioning Ecuador in the EU market and generating greater benefits for all actors in the supply chain.

About AL-INVEST Verde

AL-INVEST Verde is a European Union (EU) programme whose main objective is to promote sustainable growth and job creation in Latin America by supporting the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and more circular economy. Through Component 2, led by FIIAPP in consortium with IILA, the programme provides assistance for strengthening public policy and multi-stakeholder dialogues on sustainable agricultural and value chains, environmental and labour standards, as well as sustainable trade and economic policy and regulatory frameworks.