Abstract
Sustainable land-use systems (SLUS), such as agroforestry cocoa, implemented using organic fertilization, prescribed post-harvest practices and rainwater irrigation, can potentially increase farm productivity, while reducing pressure on natural resources by decreasing deforestation, providing legitimate incomes for rural households and helping farmers to adapt to extreme weather events. SLUS also contributes to peacebuilding by providing sustainable income sources and enhancing social cohesion and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation and reduce climate vulnerability. SLUS can contribute to agroecology transition through a cumulative process, boosting adoption rates and encouraging farmers to remain committed to a sustainable process. Despite evidence of their potential and global efforts to promote their use, SLUS adoption rates remain low. Building on traditional ex-post generic adoption studies, we identify the enabling factors for farm-level transitions to SLUS in Colombia to propose policy design that will boost SLUS adoption in areas that are conflict affected and exposed to deforestation. We surveyed a sample of 922 cocoa producers in conflict-affected areas prone to deforestation. To reveal SLUS adoption factors, we (i) classified farmers according to number of sustainable practices applied; (ii) estimated an ordered probit econometric model; and (iii) assessed existing policies to promote cocoa production systems in Colombia, comparing their alignment with the adoption factors identified. We find a mismatch between farm-level adoption factors and policies promoting SLUS in Colombia. The principal factors enabling farm-level adoption of sustainable cocoa production system depend on: (i) cocoa plantation age; (ii) technical assistance provided; (iii) social organization membership; and (iv) farmer-to-farmer interaction, while national policies to promote sustainable cocoa are mostly oriented towards (i) renewing and rehabilitating established farming areas (directly related to crop age); (ii) expanding cocoa agroforestry systems; and (iii) establishing zero-deforestation cocoa production agreements. Our results indicate that to achieve wide-scale SLUS adoption, policies should focus on: (i) capacity building through technical assistance and strengthening farmers’ associations; (ii) strengthening farmer's social organizations, social interactions, and knowledge sharing between producers to generate cascading information (iii) land-use conversion instead of expansion, for example from pastures to cocoa.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 106888 |
Journal | World Development |
Volume | 188 |
ISSN | 0305-750X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was partially funded by the CGIAR Initiatives Agrilac Resiliente and Mitigate+: Research for Low Emissions Food Systems. We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund. The research was also funded by the project 18_III_106_COL_A_Sustainable productive strategies, which is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative based on a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. The views expressed in this paper cannot be taken to reflect the official opinions of these organizations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors
Keywords
- Agroforestry
- Cocoa
- Colombia
- Environmental peacebuilding
- Farm-level adoption factors