Blockchain Technology Applied to the Cocoa Export Supply Chain: A Latin America Case

This chapter recommends applying block chain technology to the cocoa supply chain. Using this technology, it will be possible to show and guarantee the traceability of the final product. Traceability in the cocoa chain begins in the production stages (harvest and post-harvest) to obtain relevant data related to cocoa beans and their producers, promptly, until finding the raw material origin and inputs used during the process. The material provider's name must be considered, as well as the manufacturer's expiration date, the batch number, and the production area's reception date. This is why authors recommend using Block chain, which is a data structure that stores information chronologically in interlinked blocks. It works as a digital master book and the participants reach an agreement to register any information in the blocks. Throughout the chapter, authors show how to apply this technology.