This call was a success and received almost 90 propositions from all regions of the world. The project since developed into an edited volume of 15 case studies (4 in Latin America, 6 in Africa and 5 in Asia) and a meta-analysis on the innovative mechanisms that have effectively made these linkages. The volume is forthcoming this year under the title: “Sustainable practices, sustainable markets? Exploring institutional innovations that link sustainable agricultural practices with markets in developing countries.” (edited by Allison Loconto, Anne Sophie Poisot and Pilar Santacoloma).

 

The purpose of this e-forum is to bring the discussions that started within this small group to a wider audience. This community, composed of practitioners and researchers, is a place to exchange ideas and experiences with the purpose of sharing knowledge and innovations. Therefore, we are organizing the discussion threads around important themes that have emerged from the study and will be used to enrich the agenda for our workshop. The current theme is on: sustainable (agronomic) practices - What sustainable innovative agronomic practices have been most impressive in your field experience?

 

The e-forum is begin held in a separate FAO’s Dgroups platform (Institutional Innovations: Linking Sustainable Practices with Markets) until 7 April 2015 with a new discussion topic being posted every 10 days. The upcoming topics are the following:

 

Feb 26, 2015 2): Sustainable practices & Input Markets - What strategies do you follow to source inputs for sustainable production?

Mar 9, 2015 3): Social relations & Markets - What are some strategies for attracting consumers and for improving product quality?

Mar 19, 2015 4): Markets – How are prices negotiated?

Mar 30, 2015 5): Markets or External support - What to do about scaling up?

 

Please contact Marcello Vicovaro (marcello.vicovaro@fao.org) if you would like to participate. 

 

Picture credit: Raja R.