Two new videos and a flyer explain the advantages and best practices of agroforestry in the Sahel region for farmers and extensionists. They have been developed by the Horizon 2020 project SustainSahel, which is coordinated by FiBL Switzerland.

Most studies focusing on adoption of sustainable farming practices in cocoa disregard value chain factors. The objective of this study was to understand: (a) how important value chain factors are, relative to farmer and farm factors, for cocoa farmers’ implementation of sustainable farming practices and (b) through which mechanisms value chain factors influence sustainable farming practices implementation. The authors found that value chain factors are comparable to farmer and farm factors in explaining the implementation of sustainable farming practices across dimensions. Both capacity building and stable relationships were significantly related with the implementation of certain sustainable farming practices.

Fragmented governance of international value chains, operating in multiple jurisdictions, is insufficient to prevent social and environmental mismanagement. Smart Mixes, which are combinations of compulsory and voluntary measures, have been proposed as a possible means of securing environmental and social standards, but the concept has not been operationalized in the academic literature. The results suggest that Smart Mixes are effective when they cover a specific issue under conditions in which enforcement mechanisms create a level playing field: thereby aligning public and private sector interests. The keys to success in a Smart Mix include positive interactions, harmonization, and complementary and supportive measures, which combine to motivate engagement by the private sector. We conclude that Smart Mixes can contribute to sustainability in value chains but their effectiveness is dependent on the strength of the relationships between the measures that compose them.