SAP - The traceability of the world leader at the service of cashew nut cooperatives

Test, evaluate and improve a traceability software with SAP barcodes dedicated to producer organizations (cooperatives)
As part of the African Cashew Initiative (ICA) and initiated by funding from the German Cooperation (GIZ), RONGEAD and its partner in Côte d'Ivoire, the NGO Chigata, have been collaborating since 2014 with the international publisher of SAP software for the deployment and evaluation of software tools developed by SAP for the professionalization of cashew marketing activities in rural areas. The project deployed by RONGEAD and Chigata involves cashew producers via their organizations, thanks to the use of a specific version of the SAP Rural Sourcing Management (RSM) tool. This tool allows you to record any transaction carried out by a producer organization, thus facilitating the monitoring and analysis of flows across the cooperative. Three producer organizations were included in the project, making a total of 1,534 producers. Each organization has dedicated agents to capture transactions within the mobile application, allowing the organization to maintain its usual management style and compare results. The designated officers received training in the use of the application, deployed on terminals provided by SAP (around twenty in total), with RONGEAD and Chigata as facilitators. The latter ensured a permanent follow-up of the behavior of the actors vis-à-vis the tool on the ground (monitoring, bugs, feedbacks of the users, proposals and discussions on the possible optimizations and improvements of the tool, reinforcement of the capacities of the agents, etc.).

Rural Sourcing Management (abbreviated RSM) is a non-standard software developed by SAP for the tracking of transactions in agricultural commodities trading. It was born of the will of SAP and its partners to use technology to reduce poverty in the rural world. It is adapted according to the needs of the various partners involved in the various pilots made in Africa. It is a tool that comes in the form of a mobile application and that allows to record multiple information necessary for the management of transactions in agricultural activities.

• Work in partnership with ICA, SAP, Chigata and producer organizations (COOGES, CPNK and COWONA) in Côte d'Ivoire to implement pilot projects in the field of cashew marketing in Côte d'Ivoire Ivory
• Consider collaborating with Fairtrade Africa (FTA) and Fairtrade International (FLO)
• Collect information on transactions and prices at the producer group level in order to use it for the Rongead / Chigata Market Information System
• Distribution of information to producer groups by mass SMS

The activities carried out by RONGEAD as a field facilitator for producer organizations are:
A1. Assist producer organizations in coordinating activities in the field
A2. Participate in periodic prototype software development cycles in consultation with SAP and organizations
A3. Collaborate with FTA and FLO experts
A4. Participate in periodic reviews and evaluations with SAP
A5. Provide feedback related to SAP field experimentation (at project launch and end of project)