A collective producer organisation in Southern Tanzania facilitated certification (organic and fair-trade) and export of cashew nuts of member smallholder farmers. Certification required keeping track of internal inspections that were carried out twice a year for about 3000 farmers. Initially, this was done in Excel, but as the organisation was expecting to grow to 10,000 members they were in need of a more comprehensive Internal Control System (ICS).

Benefit for the client:

By increasing transparency about the origin of the cashew nuts the organisation was able to fulfill demands by the exporter of more reliable sourcing thus commanding higher premiums for their members.

Chanzo’s tasks were:

• Develop GIS data collection methodology using handheld GPS devices
• Develop database structure in PostgreSQL for Internal Control System management
• Liaise on behalf of the client with web application developer
• Design GIS web interface for plot boundaries with Google Earth background
• Assist ICS officer with clean up of existing data
• Convert existing data to new ICS management database