Abstract
Global pressure to ‘clean’ and ‘green’ the agricultural supply chain is increasing, requiring exported agricultural goods to meet certain standards and regulations. Such pressure mainly comes from developed countries as consumers. In this regard, small and medium producers in exporting developing countries are at the highest risk of further marginalization and market exclusion. They lack access to training, information, farm inputs, and financial support to practice sustainable agriculture. Most of the smallholders also have low production levels and live below poverty. To this, current agricultural sustainability frameworks must be urgently reviewed.
We propose enhanced cooperation between producer and consumer countries in the form of: 1) An establishment of communication on agreed framework and institutional arrangements on sustainable agricultural commodities; 2) Stepwise/staging approach and indicators to support transition toward a more sustainable agriculture 3) Umbrella program to support technology transfer and adoption; 4) Investment hub and innovative financing schemes to facilitate trade and investment for smallholders.