What coffee traceability means in practice
Coffee traceability is the ability to show where a lot of coffee was grown: which farmers delivered the cherry, and which plots of land it came from. For coffee sold into the European Union, that link has to reach down to the plot, described by GPS coordinates, because the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires geolocation for every plot where the coffee was produced.
For a Kenyan cooperative, the hard part is not the idea. It is collecting accurate, checkable data for hundreds or thousands of members who have never had their farms mapped. KahawaTrace was built for exactly that job. For a deeper explanation, read What is coffee traceability?.
Who KahawaTrace is for
| Who | What they do in KahawaTrace |
|---|---|
| Field agents | Register farmers with consent and map plots on an Android phone |
| Supervisors and factory managers | Review each mapped plot against satellite imagery, then approve, reject or send it back |
| Cooperative and estate admins | Manage users and roles, follow progress, and export data |
| Exporters and compliance teams | Download approved plot geolocation as GeoJSON for due diligence statements |
How the traceability workflow works
- Register the farmer. Name, national ID, phone, cooperative, factory and location, with the farmer’s consent recorded before anything is saved.
- Map each plot. One averaged GPS point for plots of 4 hectares or less, or a boundary polygon walked on foot for larger plots. Area is calculated automatically. See GPS farm mapping.
- Check it automatically. KahawaTrace flags boundaries that cross themselves, overlaps with neighbouring plots, likely duplicates, points outside Kenya and big differences between mapped and declared area.
- Review and approve. A supervisor compares the plot with the satellite image and decides. Every change is kept in an audit trail.
- Export. Approved plots export as GeoJSON in WGS84 at six decimal places, with the producer name, country, place and area, plus a CSV for your own records. See EUDR readiness.
Why it matters for Kenyan coffee
Around 70 per cent of Kenya’s coffee is produced through farmers’ cooperatives, which group more than 800,000 smallholder growers, according to the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). Each of those farms is a plot that may need to be located for EU buyers. A shared, checked record of farmers and plots also helps cooperatives with member management long after any single shipment.
What you get with KahawaTrace
- A farmer register with recorded consent, linked to cooperatives and factories
- GPS point and boundary mapping that runs in a phone’s browser, with no app store install
- Automatic geometry checks the moment a plot is saved
- A clear review queue with statuses: awaiting review, approved, needs re-mapping and rejected
- Role-based access for field agents, supervisors and admins
- An audit trail of who mapped, edited, reviewed or exported each plot
- GeoJSON and CSV exports, filtered by cooperative
Frequently asked questions
What is a coffee traceability platform?
Software that records who grew a coffee lot and where. KahawaTrace links registered farmers to GPS-mapped plots, checks the maps, and exports the plot geolocation data buyers need.
Can exporters trace coffee back to individual farms with KahawaTrace?
Yes, at plot level: each approved plot is linked to a registered farmer and their cooperative, and can be exported with its coordinates and area as GeoJSON or CSV.
Does KahawaTrace work for estates as well as cooperatives?
Yes. Estates use the same tools: register the estate as the producer, map each block as a plot, review it and export.
Do farmers need a smartphone?
No. Field agents do the mapping on their own Android phones. Farmers only need to be present to give consent and walk or point out their plot.