Organic Exporter Guide

This guide was developed for the programme 'Export Promotion of Organic Products from Africa' (EPOPA), implemented by Agro Eco and Grolink. The focus of this guide is on export marketing of organic agricultural products. Finished consumer products and other concepts of certification such as Fair Trade and EurepGAP are briefly discussed as well. The guide is written for African exporters starting with organic exports. It may also be useful for business supporters involved in export marketing

E-finance-lab at the House of Finance : about us

The financial services industry is believed to be on the verge of a dramatic [r]evolution. A substantial redesign of its value chains aimed at reducing costs, providing more efficient and flexible services and enabling new products and revenue streams is imminent. But there seems to be no clear migration path nor goal which can cast light on the question where the finance industry and its various players will be and should be in a decade from now. The mission of the E-Finance Lab is the development and application of research methodologies in the financial industry that promote and assess how business strategies and structures are shared and supported by strategies and structures of information systems. Important challenges include the design of smart production infrastructures, the development and evaluation of advantageous sourcing strategies and smart selling concepts to enable new revenue streams for financial service providers in the future. Overall, our goal is to contribute methods and views to the realignment of the E-Finance value chain. ..

Cooperatives: Issues and trends in developing countries Report of a workshop held in Perth, 24-25 March 2003

Agribusiness,

Effect of oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFB) fibers to the compressive strength and water absorption of concrete

Growing popularity based on environmentally-friendly, low cost and lightweight building materials in the construction industry has led to a need to examine how these characteristics can be achieved and at the same time giving the benefit to the environment and maintain the material requirements based on the standards required. Recycling of waste generated from industrial and agricultural activities as measures of building materials is not only a viable solution to the problem of pollution but also to produce an economic design of building

Blockchain and certification for more sustainable coffee Production : how can blockchain complement the sustainability certifications

Blockchain technology is increasingly gaining momentum in the food supply chain, as a technology to shape trust by installing transparency and fairness through assured digital identity, digital traceability, and unchangeable records. The study aimed to evaluate the impacts of sustainability certifications in coffee production, with an objective to assess if blockchain technology, could complement the major applied sustainability certification schemes for more sustainable coffee production. A systematic review of impacts of certifications based on socio-economic and environmental dimensions and existing certifications shortfalls were assessed. Thereafter a theory of change and the Multi-level perspective frameworks were employed to illustrate an intervention matrix, describing how blockchain technology can complement the shortfalls of applied sustainability certifications in coffee production. Simultaneously quantitative and content research methods allowing to answer the research questions were used to analyze dataset including self-reported impacts, from interviews and surveys conducted through self-administered questionnaires to non-random sampled actors from Coffee farmers, farmers cooperatives, coffee processors, exporters, government, Non-governmental organizations in Rwanda, and coffee importers and processors in Sweden, from March to May 2021. Results from the self-reported impacts indicate high training levels and skills connected to certification, have increased the environmental activities, and can lead to price improvement. The thesis reveals an unsustainable certifications structure from the economic perspective, with a high role played by the governments, and NGOs in support of certification compliance costs. In addition, results reveal a larger part of certified coffee being sold as conventional, due to lack of buyers. Consequently, sustainability certifications are failing the existing economic imbalance within the coffee value chain but continue to be an important tool. This implies that blockchain would be an option to complement the existing sustainability certifications shortfalls, for an efficient coffee production chain, to provide transparency, and fairness to enhance the inequitable and unbalanced coffee chain

The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains