EUDR for cooperatives: geolocation, cut-off dates and due diligence
What the EU Deforestation Regulation actually requires from a Liberian cooperative, and the practical path to 'ready'.
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) applies to cocoa placed on the EU market. The operator filing the due-diligence statement is usually the importer - but they can only file it with data that starts on your farms.
The three requirements
- Geolocation: coordinates for every plot that produced the cocoa. Plots over 4 hectares need a polygon, not just a point.
- Deforestation-free: the land must not have been deforested after 31 December 2020, checked against satellite forest maps.
- Legality: production must comply with national law - land use, labour, environment.
The practical path
1) Register every member farmer with a unique ID. 2) Map each plot with a GPS phone app - a trained enumerator maps 8-12 plots a day. 3) Keep lot records that tie each bag to the farmers who filled it. 4) Store it all in one clean spreadsheet or traceability tool that exports the EU's GeoJSON format.
The cluster's shared mapping teams and template files (document library → EUDR checklist) exist so no cooperative has to invent this alone. Your public traceability profile shows buyers your status: not started → in progress → ready.