Building Blocks for EUDR Compliance: Lessons from the Cocoa Sector
As the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) moves closer to enforcement, cocoa-producing countries in West and Central Africa have a unique opportunity to deepen collaboration with private sector, strengthen sustainability systems and drive lasting improvements across the supply chains.
EUDR compliance is not just a technical exercise—it requires political will, institutional coordination, and trust among stakeholders across often fragmented supply chains.
The experience of Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon reveals critical insights into how to reach scalable, inclusive systems in the most efficient and effective way possible:
1. Inclusion and Incentives Are Critical
Farmer understanding and buy-in, are key for compliance systems to succeed. Awareness, incentives, and grievance mechanisms must be embedded into national strategies. Likewise, private sector actors must be seen not only as data contributors, but as co-investors in sustainable compliance.
2. Collaboration Is the Cornerstone
No single actor can meet EUDR demands alone. The need for multistakeholder cooperation—governments, companies, cooperatives, and civil society—is paramount. Collaboration must move from policy rooms to joint implementation on the ground.
- In Côte d’Ivoire, IDH is promoting collaboration and convergence between national and private initiatives and systems by accelerating alignment on farmer census, traceability and forest monitoring systems
- In Ghana, IDH is strengthening collective action through field testing the Ghana Cocoa Traceability System in selected districts, including a first-of-its-kind public-private collaboration, supporting 16,000 farmers towards EUDR.
- In Cameroon, IDH is working on building trust and collaboration between companies and national institutions (e.g. ONCC, CICC) on the development of a common farm data base and on interoperability between systems, focusing on inclusion of smaller traders and union of cooperatives.
3. Data Must Be Shared
Data is both the biggest asset and bottleneck. Shared standards, interoperable platforms, and clear agreements on data ownership are essential. Without this, efforts will stall in a lack of trust and fragmentation.
4. Strong Public Leadership Is Essential
Governments should coordinate and lead in setting clear rules, building traceability and land tenure systems, and ensuring coordination across ministries and mandates. Without operational public systems, private efforts risk duplication and incoherence.
5. Regional Coordination Should Support Alignment
Countries need ongoing mechanisms to share progress and learnings, align systems, and raise a joint voice in EU dialogues. Leveraging regional frameworks like ARS1000—which sets common sustainability standards for cocoa across West and Central Africa—can support alignment and reduce duplication. A regional task force or knowledge platform could help countries collectively navigate evolving EU expectations.
Looking Forward
To turn learning into impact, countries and industry must now prioritise:
- Farmer-first approaches to system design
- Transparent, inclusive public-private sector engagement
- Clear institutional mandates
These are not just steps toward compliance—they are building blocks for a fairer and more resilient cocoa sector.
Context
These insights emerged from a regional learning exchange in Koforidua, Ghana (April 2025), convened by IDH. Nearly 50 stakeholders from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon—including representatives from government, industry, and civil society—came together for a rare moment of candid, cross-country dialogue. The event fostered mutual learning, helped identify common priorities, and laid the groundwork for stronger regional cooperation.
As one participant put it: “This showed us where we are—but more importantly, where we need to go.”
With EUDR deadlines fast approaching, such spaces for collaboration and reflection are no longer optional—they are essential for enabling collective progress.
At IDH, we strongly believe that effective and inclusive compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) is not just a necessity, but a unique opportunity. The EUDR can serve as a catalyst to move beyond compliance —unlocking transformative public-private investments that build more transparent, sustainable value chains.
Even though the obligation of EUDR is on the operator and trader, it places some traceability compliance on the farmer. The learning exchange showed that multi-stakeholder collaboration is not just helpful—it’s essential.
Participants included representatives from the following organisations:
Cameroon
- National Cocoa and Coffee Board (ONCC)
- Sustainable Cocoa Platform Cameroon
- UCOM (Union des Coopératives de Cacao Mbangassina)
- SOCOOPRA Ntui Union of Cooperatives
- Ngoro Union of Cooperatives
- GCLP Landscape Coalitions
- Ministry of Trade (Cameroon)
- CICC (Cameroon Cocoa and Coffee Council)
- MINADER (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cameroon)
- Cargill Cameroon
Ghana
- GIZ Ghana
- COCOBOD (Ghana Cocoa Board)
- Cocoa Health and Extension Division (CHED)
- MLNR (Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources)
- OFI Ghana (Olam Food Ingredients)
- Proforest Ghana
- Dadiesoaba Farmer Cooperative
- Cargill Tema, Ghana
Côte d’Ivoire
- CCC (Conseil du Café-Cacao)
- SOCAHI (Cooperative)
- FAYO (Cooperative)
- CAMAYE (Cooperative)
- CARGILL WA (West Africa)
- ECOM
- MINEF (Ministry of Water and Forests)