Our Story
Where We Entered
We entered this work through farming communities in Bishoftu, Mojo, and Arsi, places where people grow high quality produce with care and experience yet struggle to have that value recognized once their crops leave the farm. At first, the issue appeared to be a market standards problem, with buyers questioning quality, exporters worrying about compliance, and farmers facing pressure on price, but as we listened more closely we realized something more basic was missing. The challenge was not only about quality but about identity and proof.
What We Heard and Observed
Farmers told us that once their produce is aggregated, their identity disappears as crops are mixed, relabeled, or moved through chains where origin cannot be verified, leaving them without evidence to defend their work when disputes arise. Exporters shared that shipments are sometimes rejected because origin cannot be confirmed even when the product itself is good, while buyers described mistrust and hesitation driven by paperwork that often fails to reflect reality on the ground. What repeated itself was a loss of voice, where the people who do the work are the least able to prove it, and these experiences and patterns are documented more fully in our Community Essence Map.
Where the System Breaks
As we mapped the ecosystem, the break became visible at aggregation and handoff points, with farmers relying on trust and experience, aggregators focused on speed and volume, and exporters and buyers depending on documentation. Paper based systems cannot carry identity across these transitions, allowing information asymmetry to grow as prices are manipulated, disputes increase, and risk is pushed back onto farmers. The roles, incentives, and power imbalances across this system are explored further in our Stakeholder Map.
Naming the Real Challenge
Initially, we framed the challenge as traceability for export compliance, but that framing was incomplete. The deeper issue is that when produce moves without identity, trust collapses across the value chain and value is destroyed for everyone involved. Without shared proof of origin and handling, farmers lose bargaining power, exporters face risk, and buyers lack confidence. This understanding shaped our Problem Statement and shifted the focus from tracking goods toward protecting identity and trust.
How We Changed
This process changed how we think about traceability by moving us away from viewing it as a technical requirement and toward understanding it as a matter of fairness. Farmers do not only want access to markets but want recognition for their work and protection from disputes they cannot control, and we also realized that any solution benefiting only one actor will fail because trust must be shared across the entire chain from farm to buyer. In this context, technology must make truth visible without adding burden to farmers, and our internal shift and priorities are explored more deeply in our Team Reflection.
The Direction Forward
This work points toward an agricultural system where origin remains visible throughout the journey, allowing farmers to stand behind their products, exporters to verify claims confidently, and buyers to trust what they purchase. Any future solution must reduce conflict rather than add complexity, because in agriculture trust is not abstract but determines who gets paid, who bears risk, and who is believed.