COLCO

Delivering Change for Cacao in Colombia

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Project Completed

In 2020, the Satellite Applications Catapult began working with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (part of the High-Value Manufacturing Catapult) to transform the way farmers produce cacao in Colombia.

Together, we created a vibrant ecosystem of supply chain, technology, innovation, policy and research organisations, which has identified and developed solutions to enhance the quality of production of cacao from Colombia, unlocking substantial growth potential. The project was supported by the British Embassy in Colombia and funded by Innovate UK and the Newton Caldas fund.

We called this activity COLCO: the Colombian Cocoa Control System.

Lush green hills and mountains under a partly cloudy sky.

What is COLCO?

The UK-based COLCO team, using expertise ranging from data science and service design to manufacturing and plant science, have joined forces with a consortium of cacao specialists, technologists, and business support experts based in Colombia. Together the consortium developed an ecosystem of support for cacao farmers and producers and help to transform quality and yield in the pre- and post-harvest phases of the cacao supply chain.

All of the different elements of COLCO worked to bring value to each other, to create a product for the cacao supply chain that ultimately has a value greater than the sum of its parts.

Cocoa beans drying on green tarps under a clear greenhouse structure with plants in the background.

COLCO is developing and deploying a suite of products and services following extensive engagement with representatives across the Colombian cacao value chain.

The services, delivered directly through our UK and Colombian partners, will include:

Helping farmers to access increased support through in-field training on crop pests and diseases
Use of climate intelligence to aid farmer decision making and allocation of inputs to better optimise and protect attainable yields
Manufacturing and implementing innovations that will support farmers during their post-harvest activities, including improved quality control on fermentation and drying,
Utilising computer vision technologies for transforming subjective assessments of the produce quality for cacao traders