The Cost of Delayed Action: 5 Traceability Barriers Threatening East Africa’s 19% Global Agricultural Outlook
- Carlene Darius
- 6 hours ago
- 10 min read
Editor’s Note:
This article examines the rising stakes of supply chain traceability in East Africa at a time when the region is projected to contribute 19% of all additional global agricultural production over the next decade. Published alongside Koltiva’s Beyond Traceability Talks Vol. 4 webinar, “Building Supply Chain Traceability and Market Access for East African Exporters,” it distills insights from Agricultural Business Initiative (aBi) Development, Café Africa, Diageo, and Koltiva into five key barriers that are slowing progress. By unpacking common myths around cost, digital capability, and who truly benefits, and by showcasing practical, people-centered solutions powered by tools like KoltiTrace and KoltiSkills, the article offers a clear call to action for governments, buyers, and agribusinesses to move from delayed compliance to proactive readiness and protect East Africa’s long-term access to premium global markets.
Executive Summary
East Africa is projected to contribute 19% of all additional global agricultural production in the coming decade, positioning the region as a rising powerhouse in global food supply chains. Yet as export volumes grow, so does the pressure for full transparency, verified sourcing, and deforestation-free compliance across every commodity (OECD & FAO, 2025).
Held on 20 November 2025, the fourth edition of the Beyond Traceability Talks webinar featured industry experts from Agricultural Business Initiative, Café Africa, Diageo, and Koltiva under the theme “Building Supply Chain Traceability and Market Access for East African Exporters.” The discussion untangled 5 persistent talked issues around cost, technology, and producer benefit, while emphasizing that delayed action on global compliance standards, like EUDR, poses the greatest immediate risk to East African exports.
With global markets tightening sourcing expectations, experts emphasized that delaying traceability now increases the risk of losing access to premium export markets. For East Africa, staying competitive requires early readiness, stronger national coordination, and practical tools that support field-level implementation. Solutions like KoltiTrace, which enables end-to-end supply-chain verification, and KoltiSkills, which provides structured training and producer onboarding, offer a realistic path forward to reduce compliance risks while strengthening inclusion and market continuity across the region.
Table of Contents
The Traceability Reality Check: Costs, Capacity, and Who Really Benefits
Barrier 1: The assumption that traceability is too expensive
Barrier 2: The belief that producers cannot adopt digital tools
Barrier 3: The idea that traceability only benefits exporters
The Global Compliance and Technology Shift: Why Delayed Action Is the Greatest Risk
Barrier 4: The expectation that global regulations are temporary or negotiable
Barrier 5: The belief that technology alone can solve traceability
Introduction
Agriculture remains a vital pillar of East Africa’s economy and a driving force behind the region’s expanding export engine. Accordingly, the East African Community (EAC) accounts for 301.8 million people and a GDP of US $312.9 billion. Commodities such as coffee, tea, cereals, cut-flowers, edible vegetables, and legumes dominate both intra-regional and inter-continental trade flows, making it one of Africa’s most dynamic agricultural trade blocs (TradeMark Africa & USAID, 2024). At the global level, the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2025–2034 projects that Sub-Saharan Africa, where East Africa is a major contributor, will generate 19% of all additional global agricultural production over the next decade, up from 13% in the previous decade (OECD & FAO, 2025). This increase signals a decisive shift where East Africa is not only essential today but is rapidly becoming a significant player for global agricultural output growth.
As agricultural trade intensifies and East Africa’s population continues to grow, so does the urgency for transparency, compliance, and digital readiness. Accordingly, only 15% of East African companies are highly aware of the new compliance development, including due diligence such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). However, 94% companies expect sustainability to become a major priority in the next 3 years (2025-2027) (Danish Study Report, 2024). This gap between low awareness and rising pressure highlights why clear communication, capacity building, and coordinated systems are urgently needed.
Against this backdrop, Koltiva held the BeyondTraceability Talks Vol. 4 webinar on 20th November 2025 with theme “Building Supply Chain Traceability and Market Access for East African Exporters” that brought together agriculture industry leaders from Agricultural Business Initiative (aBi) Development, Café Africa, Diageo, and Koltiva to discuss the common problems, share real-world lessons, and highlight why traceability is no longer optional—and increasingly a competitive advantage—for East Africa.
The Traceability Reality Check: Costs, Capacity, and Who Really Benefits
Despite East Africa’s rising influence in global agriculture and recognition of sustainability pressures, several perceived blockers continue to slow down the adoption of traceability across supply chains. The webinar discussion revealed that these misconceptions often stem from misunderstandings about cost, digital literacy, and who ultimately benefits. In practice, however, traceability is proving to be a strategic investment that strengthens competitiveness, protects market access, and enables greater producer inclusion.
Barrier 1: The assumption that traceability is too expensive
The first barrier is the perception that “traceability is too expensive, and only large companies can afford it”. While cost is often known as the biggest barrier, the discussion showed that shared investment and donor-supported programs are already making traceability accessible far beyond major exporters. Susan Atyang of aBi Development, a multi-donor initiative focused on building a competitive, climate-resilient, and inclusive agribusiness sector, explained that premium buyers increasingly require verified legality and deforestation-free sourcing, which is why traceability sits at the core of aBi’s work.
Through awareness efforts, technical assistance, and matching-grant support, aBi has helped expand producer registration and geo-mapping across Uganda, enabling close to 1,000,000 plots to be mapped; combined with government efforts, this figure is now approaching 1.6 million. For producers and smallholders, this donor-backed investment substantially reduces the upfront costs of onboarding into traceable supply chains, making compliance both feasible and economically meaningful by improving access to premium markets.
As Susan emphasized, “Most of the premium markets in Europe, the US, and the UK now require evidence that the food is safe, legal, and not linked to deforestation.”
Barrier 2: The belief that producers cannot adopt digital tools
Moving from cost to capability, a second key barrier is the assumption that “smallholders cannot use digital tools, and digital literacy is too low.” In reality, adoption barriers rarely stem from a lack of ability. They arise when producers do not yet see the value of the tools being introduced. As the webinar highlighted, when digital systems directly improve daily operations, reducing disputes, enabling faster payments, or connecting producers to premium buyers, adoption happens quickly. East Africa’s rising smartphone ownership, the prevalence of shared-device models, and the presence of on-the-ground teams, such as field agents, enable rapid onboarding and localized support.
Waithera Muriithi, expert from Café Africa highlighted, “Once traders understand how digital traceability strengthens their business—whether through compliance, pricing, or service access—they often proactively request smartphones, training, and onboarding support.”
Barrier 3: The idea that traceability only benefits exporters
Furthermore, beyond cost and capability, the conversation turned to the third barrier, saying “traceability only benefits exporters, not producers” an assumption that overlooks how transparency directly strengthens producer livelihoods and market access. Traceability provides producers with something they have long been excluded from: a digital identity with economic power. When producers’ plots, yields, quality metrics, and transaction histories are documented and verified, they gain access to financial services, agronomy support, premium pricing schemes, and formal markets previously closed to them. This shift is already visible in programs where smallholders benefit from faster payments, better price negotiations, and stronger relationships with buyers who value transparent sourcing.
Strengthening producer inclusion ultimately improves the reliability of supply chains, and buyers like Diageo repeatedly stressed that long-term sourcing stability depends on investing in producer prosperity. Far from being a top-down requirement, traceability is increasingly becoming the mechanism through which value flows back to producers, enabling them to compete and thrive in compliant, higher-value markets.
As Eliud Kiptoo explained, Diageo uses traceability data not only to track raw materials but to enhance producer outcomes: “We are very keen on traceability, and we also want to use the data that we keep on a day-to-day basis to improve outcomes for the smallholder farmers… whether it’s higher production, better quality, or eventually a higher income for the smallholder producers.”
The Global Compliance and Technology Shift: Why Delayed Action Is the Greatest Risk
While addressing the first three barriers is essential, East Africa’s traceability readiness is equally determined by the global compliance expectations and the practical realities of implementing technology on the ground.
Barrier 4: The expectation that global regulations are temporary or negotiable
When discussing traceability in a compliance context, one persistent barrier is the belief that “new global standards—especially the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)—are temporary or negotiable”. The recent shift of EUDR enforcement to 2026 has encouraged stakeholders to pause preparations, yet the delay is not a sign of flexibility as the legal requirements remain intact, and the EU has made clear that due diligence, geolocation, and deforestation-free verification will apply uniformly once enforcement begins. Soon, with both the EUDR and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) entering into force, East African exporters face potential trade losses of more than €2.75 billion if compliance gaps persist (Danish Council Report, 2024). The EU imported €171.8 billion worth of agri-food products in 2024 (European Commission, 2025), making it a critical market that East Africa cannot afford to compromise—particularly for coffee, tea, cocoa, and horticultural products. Past enforcement actions in other regulated sectors show that non-compliance can lead to shipment rejections, suspended supplier approvals, and costly delays—outcomes that exporters in emerging economies can afford.
“The biggest risk is where global markets are heading—and that shift is driven by consumers. Buyers in Europe and North America increasingly want to know exactly what they’re consuming and where it comes from. What we’ve seen with the EUDR makes it clear: you will be required to comply, or you’ll be out of the market. It’s that simple. And this is only the beginning—these requirements are very likely to extend beyond Europe into other markets as well,” said Waithera.
Barrier 5: The belief that technology alone can solve traceability
Alongside compliance, another barrier is the misconception of “technology alone can solve the traceability challenge”. Tools like mobile mapping, satellite monitoring, and digital forms are powerful enablers, but they are only as reliable as the governance structures, field verification, and data quality that support them. Research across Africa shows that digital solutions succeed only when supported by human systems—access to finance, training, and extension services remain among the strongest predictors of technology adoption (Fadeyi et al., 2022). Likewise, digital agriculture studies in low- and middle-income countries highlight that rural electricity and connectivity rates in Sub-Saharan Africa still sit below 50%, limiting the effectiveness of purely digital approaches (Manzoor et al., 2025).
As Fanny Butler, Senior Head of Markets EMEA at Koltiva noted, “It’s great to talk about technology, it's great to talk about the fancy gadgets and tools, but we will never be able to remove the human aspect producers need support to use them.”
Diageo’s supply chain model further illustrates this reality. While the company uses digital tools to map producers, track crop origins, Diageo depends heavily on village-based advisors, agronomists, and para-agronomists who work directly with producers and aggregators to verify records, oversee crop management practices, and support onboarding into the system. This hybrid model—digital tools supported by human facilitation—enables Diageo to maintain visibility even in highly fragmented, semi-annual crop landscapes where producers are mobile and production cycles shift quickly.
The Path Forward for East Africa
As global markets move toward verifiable transparency, East Africa’s agricultural sector stands at a defining moment. The region’s competitiveness will depend not only on acknowledging the myths that have slowed progress but on converting those insights into coordinated, long-term strategies. The discussions around the traceability in East Africa revealed a shared understanding: East Africa has the talent, the market opportunity, and the institutional momentum to lead—if strategic investments and the right partnerships begin now.
A foundational step is enhancing national coordination systems. Traceability cannot rely on fragmented datasets or isolated projects. Governments, commodity boards, and private sector actors must align on shared registries, mapping standards, and due-diligence protocols. As mentioned in the section above, Uganda’s progress toward registering and mapping over 1.6 million farms illustrates what can be achieved when public and private institutions work in synergy. Other countries across the region can follow similar pathways by accelerating policy alignment, investing in remote-sensing and risk-monitoring infrastructure, and establishing clear national frameworks for EUDR readiness.
At the same time, human-centered systems remain central to ensure data credibility. Technology alone cannot replace field officers, cooperative leaders, or extension agents who anchor community trust and support digital adoption. When producers understand how traceability improves pricing, stability, and access to formal markets, participation grows naturally.
Koltiva’s integrated ecosystem combines end-to-end supply-chain traceability with field-level support, combining digital tools with the human expertise required for credible implementation. Through KoltiTrace, companies can register producers and traders, map farm boundaries, verify producer identities, monitor sourcing risks, and generate audit-ready reports aligned with global standards such as EUDR. Meanwhile, KoltiSkills strengthens the human infrastructure behind the technology, delivering producer onboarding, training, and continuous field engagement across remote landscapes.
Together, these capabilities enable supply chains to transition from reactive documentation to proactive, data-driven management, improving competitiveness while boosting producer inclusion.
Ultimately, by embracing traceability as an economic enabler, rather than a compliance burden, will position East Africa to build a more resilient, transparent, and globally competitive agricultural future.
Author: Carlene Putri Darius, Marketing Communication
Editor: Daniel Agus Prasetyo, Head of Public Relations and Corporate Communications
About the author:
Carlene Putri Darius is a Marketing Communications Officer at KOLTIVA with passion in sustainability and innovation, Carlene Putri Darius integrates her expertise in technology, marketing, and strategy to promote responsible and inclusive growth. With over three years of experience in consulting, branding, and digital communications, she crafts narratives that connect innovation, sustainability, and social impact for international audiences.
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European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. (2025, April 8). EU agri-food exports reach record levels of €235.4 billion in 2024. https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/media/news/eu-agri-food-exports-reach-record-levels-eu2354-billion-2024-2025-04-08_en
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