Small-scale farmers, certification schemes and private standards: is there a business case? : costs and benefits of certification and verification systems for small-scale producers in cocoa, coffee, cotton, fruit and vegetable sectors

Certification of agricultural products is an increasingly common tool that is expected to contribute to agricultural improvement, farmer well-being, poverty alleviation, reduced environmental impact and food safety. In an increasingly competitive market, processors, manufacturers and retailers use certification to demonstrate their green and sustainable credentials and differentiate their products. In some commodity sectors, such as coffee and cocoa, products certified as sustainable are on track to reach majority market share in important producing and consuming nations. This development poses a major challenge for farmers in general, and small-scale farmers in ACP and other developing countries, in particular. This publication, commissioned by CTA, presents the findings of a study of the impact of certification on farmers in coffee, cocoa, cotton, fruit and vegetables

Small-scale farmers, certification schemes and private standards: Is there a business case?

Certification of agricultural products (organic certification, Fairtrade etc.) is often expected to provide a wide array of benefits for small-scale farmers. These include poverty alleviation, reduced environmental impact and food safety. This wide-ranging synthesis of 270 studies presents an analysis of the benefits – but also the costs – of such schemes. Crucially it demonstrates that the decision to invest must be based on sound economic principles. Clearly laid out and argued, the text also provides recommendations to improve the certification business case and impact on smallholders

Beyond intensification: landscapes and livelihoods in Mali’s Guinea Savannah

For more than a decade, sub-Saharan Africa has been the focus of calls for a new Green Revolution. Like its predecessor, the African Green Revolution aims to increase the productivity of smallholder farmers, improving their own food security and income as well as that of the continent as a whole. This is to be done with minimum environmental damage, through “sustainable intensification.” While sustainable intensification has shown potential in places where high population density precludes cropland expansion, evidence of its effectiveness in land-abundant, labor-limited areas is limited. One such land-abundant, labor-limited area is the Guinea Savannah region of West Africa, which the World Bank called a “Sleeping Giant” where agricultural development could drive economic growth both locally and at the national level. Within the Guinea Savannah region, we use southern Mali’s Bougouni district as a case study to explore potential futures for smallholder agriculture in the area. We explored the history of the area’s agriculture using a panel data set for three villages, as well as remote sensing analysis and census data. Over the period of the panel data (1994-2012), agricultural change was minor. Cultivated area per household was highly correlated with household size and the number of draft animals a household owned. This relationship remained constant over the full period, suggesting little change in labor productivity. Yields of major crops remained stagnant, even as fertilizer input increased. Cropland expansion occurred in parallel with population growth, but up to the present, over half the arable land in the study villages was not cultivated. Because uncultivated rangeland made up such a large percentage of the land, we characterized the productivity, management and use of these rangelands (Chapter 3). In two villages, we assessed biomass quantity and species composition at 2-month intervals, tracked a sample of village herds, and used remote sensing combined with regression analysis to map the productivity of herbaceous biomass in a woody savannah landscape. We found that rangelands produced a seasonal peak of 2-2.5 t/ha of herbaceous biomass, from a diverse mix of annual and perennial species, notably Andropogon gayanus and A. pseudapricus. Herds covered distances of 10-18 km each day, with distance and location variable based on the season. During most of the year, the forage supply far exceeded the demands of grazing herds, but in the late dry season forage becomes scarce and herders supplement grazing with cut tree fodders, or send herds on transhumance to the south. While rangelands are exploited for a variety of uses, local management has thus far maintained high levels of productivity and biodiversity. In order to evaluate the potential of sustainable intensification to meet its goals of reducing poverty and improving food security, we explored the solution space of possible gains from intensification for farm households in three villages. With yields equivalent to the best farmers yields in the area, over 90% of households can achieve food self-sufficiency, and most can raise income levels above the threshold for extreme poverty. Reaching attainable yield levels, equal to those obtained in on-station trials, improved the picture further. However, agriculture must compete with other income generating options, which can be considerably more profitable. The average annual income for a gold miner in the area was $1225. Even at attainable yield levels, only 25$1600 per capita. Scenarios where tractor rental was available but tree planting was minimal resulted in somewhat lower rates of land conversion, but converted land was planted to annual staple crops, while tractor rental without the introduction of cashew increased annual incomes to $400 per capita, still twice the initial value. It seems clear that cropland expansion is highly likely to occur in this area, and preventing expansion comes at a real cost to local farmers. Tractor availability and cashew planting both led to land conversion, but the environmental impacts of cashew, as a perennial tree crop, are likely to be lower than the impacts of annual staples. A holistic evaluation of sustainability that considers farmer livelihoods might therefore conclude that expansion is as sustainable as intensification. The process of developing agricultural technology innovations in sub-Saharan Africa is generally led by scientists, but has many commonalities with engineering and product design methodologies. Increased attention to the steps in this process, from problem definition to developing design specifications to testing possible solutions, could help research for development projects develop more relevant technical solutions for farmers.</p

Petits producteurs, systèmes de certification et normes privées : Le système est-il rentable?

La certification des produits agricoles (certification agriculture biologique, commerce équitable, etc.) est souvent vue comme la source d'une multitude d'avantages pour les petits exploitants. Parmi ceux-ci, on note une réduction de la pauvreté, une baisse des répercussions sur l'environnement, et la réalisation de la sécurité alimentaire. Cette vaste synthèse de 270 études présente une analyse des bénéfices, mais aussi des coûts, de tels projets de certification. Elle démontre principalement que la décision d'investir doit être basée sur de solides principes économiques. Avec une présentation et une argumentation claires, cet ouvrage fournit également des recommandations pour améliorer le secteur de la certification et ses retombées sur les petits exploitants

Farmers on the move : mobility, access to land and conflict in Central and South Mali

In contrast to their sedentary image, farmers in Central and South Mali are surprisingly mobile. Many have settled in scattered farming hamlets where they are rapidly expanding the areas under agriculture. This study focuses on farmers’ mobility in relation to accessing land in two regions in Mali where farming conditions are very different regarding rainfall, population growth and opportunities for income generation. It is shown that differences in farming conditions in the two regions have shaped the different temporal and spatial dimensions of farmers’ mobility. This mobility is, however, not just a reaction to changing farming conditions but also part of local political processes, including conflict, that mediate farmers’ access to land. By highlighting the crucial role of farming conditions and farmers’ mobility in these political processes, this study adds a fresh geographical dimension to ways of thinking about access to land, land use and conflict in West Africa and beyond

Brace for impact:Good intentions, unintended consequences, and the role of performative micro-processes in organized eff orts for societal change

Sylke Jellema worked on her PhD from 2018 to 2024 at the department of Business-Society Management within the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Through her dissertation, she aims to advance our knowledge of organizing for positive societal impact. She especially contends that our academic approach to understanding the phenomenon of ‘organizing to do good’ has been overly simplistic. Good intentions alone do not guarantee positive impacts. Instead, the road to impact is marked with twists, turns, roadblocks, and potential dead ends. Comprising three studies, her dissertation focuses on different challenges of organizing for positive impact. Study one is based on a systematic literature review of certification standards and explores the complexities of measuring impact across socio-ecological systems. For studies two and three, Sylke undertook a three-year ethnographic field study of a global impact-driven organization. In study two, Sylke employed the lens of sensemaking to elucidate the challenges of mobilizing a group of mission-driven people towards aligning themselves behind a common purpose, explaining how strong commitments to personal values and ideals can hinder such alignment. The third study delves into the intricacies of global collaborations for impact. In this study, Sylke utilized the lens of speech community theory to illustrate how shared impact-related authority norms within global governance structures can become ingrained in codified communication practices