Innovation research
Aidenvironment conducts research at the forefront of current thinking about key topics related to sustainable production and trade.
Currently, we help our clients to gain new insights on the following topics:
Living wage and living income
Today, farmers and rural workers clearly do not earn a decent standard of living. In recognition of this fact, a debate on living income and living wage has arisen on the agenda of leaders in public and private spheres. Aidenvironment contributes to this debate by conducting living wage or income gap assessments and identifying strategies to improve farmers’ incomes.
Further reading:
- Strategies to close the living income gap of smallholder farmers – The cases of cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and rubber in Indonesia (link to project page)
Price management and procurement practices
Price volatility and low-price environments are common challenges facing producers of tropical agricultural commodities. Aidenvironment explores price and supply management mechanisms at value chain and sector levels that can address these weaknesses. It also researches the quality of trading relationships or procurement practices, as these significantly influence producers’ capacity to invest in sustainability.
Further reading:
- Price mechanisms in the cocoa sector paper
- Coffee development report (link to project page)
- Fairness in Trade paper
Systemic impacts of sustainability initiatives
Voluntary sustainability standards and like-minded initiatives have impacts beyond the direct effects on certified operations. These “systemic impacts” can address the root causes of unsustainable practices, including capacities, policies, institutions and stakeholder relationships. We support initiatives in developing new value propositions and incentive mechanisms that promote systemic pathways for broader and sustained impact.
Further reading:
- The systemic impacts of voluntary sustainability standards
- The business benefits of voluntary sustainability standards paper (link to project page)