The impact of UTZ certification of cocoa in the Ivory Coast 2008 to 2013

In 2008, various value chain partners in Ivory Coast adopted the UTZ Code of Conduct and became UTZ certified to enhance sustainability in the cocoa supply chain. As part of the certification programme, cooperatives and are receiving training on farm management organisational capacity building. This brochure paints a picture of the situation on farms by mid-2013. It provides information about how the UTZ Certified cocoa programme in Ivory Coast is helping farmers to increase their knowledge and use good agricultural practices (GAPs) in line with the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct. The lessons learned from these results will be used to improve the quality of the programme

Impact of UTZ Certification of cocoa in Ivory Coast. Assessment framework and baseline

Since 2008 UTZ Certified has implemented a programme in Ivory Coast to enhance sustainability in the cocoa supply chain through the implementation of the UTZ Code of Conduct. The programme has supported farmers to become organised into cooperatives, receiving training on farm management and organisational capacity building, and become certified. Starting off with four cooperatives, two traders and Solidaridad as partners, it has grown into a large scale programme. By June 2012 86 cooperatives were certified, 44,624 farmers reached, and 128,582 tons of certified cocoa had been produced from an estimated farm area of 219,100 hectares. Eight traders and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) are now partners, who are implementing certification as part of broader activities to support cocoa farmers, their cooperatives and communities. As of June 2013, a further 103 cooperatives were in the process of certification. This report serves two purposes: it provides a baseline of farm-level situation as of mid-2013, which can be used to measure changes in indicators in future impact assessments. It also provides an initial assessment of impacts by comparing different groups of cocoa farmers. It provides information about the inclusiveness of the UTZ Certified cocoa programme in Ivory Coast. It evaluates how certification and related activities have affected farmers’ knowledge and implementation of good agricultural practices, social and environmental issues in line with the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct and assesses the added value of certification. Lessons learned are drawn from the results, feeding recommendations to improve the quality and effectiveness of the programme

Reductie in antibioticagebruik in de vleeskuikenhouderij : neveneffecten en 'best practices' = Reduction in antbiotic usage in broilers: side effects and best practices

This report describes research to the side effects and best practices of Dutch broiler farms that realised a reduction in antibiotics usage in the past two years

Trends in veterinary antibiotic use in the Netherlands 2004-2012

The objective of this study is to obtain detailed insight into the trends in the exposure of farm animals to antibiotics. This is done by monitoring both overall sales data at the national level and usage data per animal species: pigs, poultry, veal calves, other cattle and sheep

Trends in veterinary antibiotic use in the Netherlands 2005-2011

During the period 2009-2011 the total sales of antibiotics dropped nearly 32%, from 495 tonnes in 2009 to 338 tonnes in 2011 (FIDIN, 2012). This far exceeds the policy objective for 2011 set by the Dutch government, i.e., a 20% reduction in antibiotic use compared with 2009. Survey data on antibiotic use per animal species indicate a decrease in all five livestock sectors examined in 2011

Two refreshing views of Fluctuation Theorems through Kinematics Elements and Exponential Martingale

In the context of Markov evolution, we present two original approaches to obtain Generalized Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorems (GFDT), by using the language of stochastic derivatives and by using a family of exponential martingales functionals. We show that GFDT are perturbative versions of relations verified by these exponential martingales. Along the way, we prove GFDT and Fluctuation Relations (FR) for general Markov processes, beyond the usual proof for diffusion and pure jump processes. Finally, we relate the FR to a family of backward and forward exponential martingales.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures; version2: 45 pages, 7 figures, minor revisions, new results in Section