Certification of coffee producers is frequently suggested as a promising strategy for improving the position of smallholder farmers in the market. After the launch of the first Fairtrade label in 1988, several other standards have been promoted either by voluntary agencies (Utz-certified) or by private coffee companies. Each coffee label relies on different strategies for enhancing sustainable production and responsible trade. Coffee certification in East Africa is of a rather recent nature but has been rapidly expanding, representing currently 26 percent of the world's sustainable certified coffee supply. Marketing channels, cooperative organisation and household structures show notable differences between Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. Empirical studies on the effects of standards for smallholders are scarce. This book intends to deepen our understanding on the role and functions of coffee certification regimes, based on three innovative approaches: (1) longitudinal field survey data capturing changes in coffee farming systems and effects on household welfare; (2) in-depth interviews and behavioural experiments regarding risk attitudes, trust and investments at cooperative level; and (3) detailed discourse analyses regarding gender roles and female bargaining power within coffee households. The chapters included in this book provide new and original evidence about the impact of coffee certification based on large-scale field surveys and in-depth interviews.

Using a political-economic approach supplemented with insights from human ecology, this volume analyzes the long-term dynamics of food security and economic growth. The book begins by discussing the nature of preindustrial food crises and the changes that have occurred since the 19th century with the ascent of technical science and the fossil fuel revolution. It explains how these changes improved living standards but that the realization of this improvement was usually dependent on government support for smallholder modernization. The author sets out how the evolution of food security in different regions has been influenced by farm policy choices and how these choices were shaped by local societal characteristics, international relations and changing configurations in metropolitan countries. Separate chapters are devoted to the interaction of this evolution with debates on food security and economic growth and with international economic policies. The final chapters highlight the new challenges for global food security that will arise as traditional sources of biomass production and the more easily extractable reserves of fossil biomass become depleted or can no longer be used. Overall, the book emphasizes the inadequacy of current explanations with regard to these challenges. It explores what is needed to ensure a sustainable future and calls for a rethinking of these issues; a necessary reflection in today's unstable global political situation.

This conference volume discusses the findings of the iCAB 2023 conference that took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg (UJ School of Accounting and Johannesburg Business School) in collaboration with Alcorn State University (USA), Salem State University (USA) and Universiti Teknologi Mara (Malaysia) hosted the iCAB 2023 conference with the aim to bring together researchers from different Accounting and Business Management fields to share ideas and discuss how new disruptive technological developments are impacting the field of accounting. The conference was sponsored by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants AICPA & CIMA.

The FAO estimated that five out of six farms in the world are operating less than two hectares of land, suggesting that small-holder farmers are producing over one-third of the global food. The cropping systems practiced by smallholder farmers play a vital role in agri-food production systems and help to reduce hunger, improve nutrition, and provide livelihoods to millions across the developing countries. The performance of these cropping systems has a direct impact on achieving the multiple Sustainable Development Goals (2030) of No Poverty (SDG 1), Zero Hunger (SDG 2), and Good Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3). System intensification is now widely recognized as an essential pathway to achieve food and nutrition security in developing countries. The numbers of smallholder farmers are rapidly increasing in both developing and underdeveloped countries, however, they are increasingly facing challenges to run profitably. Cropping system intensification (CSI) could be one of the ways to make such production systems more remunerative for these farmers.

This is the first book in the field of corporate social responsibility to examine the progress of a standard over a ten-year period. Published in late 1997 and revised in 2001, the Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) standard and verification system is a comprehensive tool aiming to assure humane workplaces throughout the supply chain. The SA8000 system includes: factory-level management system requirements for ongoing compliance and continual improvement; independent, expert verification of compliance by certification bodies; the involvement of all key stakeholders in the SA8000 system; and harnessing consumer and investor concern by helping to identify and support companies that are committed to assuring human rights in the workplace. As of 31 December 2007, nearly 700,000 workers were employed in 1,500 facilities certified to SA8000, in 65 countries and 67 industrial sectors.Ten years on, what has the impact of SA8000 been and how do its architects and users see it developing into the future? In this book, businesses, NGOs, academics and trade union leaders provide much-needed perspective on the lessons learned from SA8000 and set an agenda for the next decade. The book also provides context on the leading initiatives within the field of CSR (such as ISO 26000 and the Business for Social Compliance Initiative) and how they relate to SA8000. The book features case studies on the experiences of a wide range of companies, including Gucci, The GAP, Chiquita, TNT, Tata and Otto Versand, and on many of the most innovative programmes in the field of CSR, such as the Made-By label. Analysts from emerging economies provide valuable insights into how SA8000 has become a key tool in Brazil and India. The book addresses many of the key themes for corporate responsibility such as traceability, supply chain management and transparency.SA8000: The First Decade provides insights for company managers, NGOs, policy-makers and trade union leaders on how to implement a social standard and will be required reading for any manager seeking to implement SA8000 or any other code of conduct or standard for their suppliers.Deborah Leipziger is well known for her book The Corporate Responsibility Code Book, published in 2003 and considered to be one of the key reference books in the field of CSR. SA8000: The First Decade is an extension of Ms Leipziger's work over a 17-year career in the field of CSR, in which she has played a role in the development of many social standards, including SA8000 and the Ethical Trading Initiative, and advised many others.

The Companion to Development Studies contains over a hundred chapters written by leading international experts within the field to provide a concise and authoritative overview of the key theoretical and practical issues dominating contemporary development studies. Covering a wide range of disciplines the book is divided into ten sections, each prefaced by a section introduction written by the editors. The sections cover: the nature of development, theories and strategies of development, globalization and development, rural development, urbanization and development, environment and development, gender, health and education, the political economy of violence and insecurity, and governance and development. This third edition has been extensively updated and contains 45 new contributions from leading authorities, dealing with pressing contemporary issues such as race and development, ethics and development, BRICs and development, global financial crisis, the knowledge based economy and digital divide, food security, GM crops, comparative urbanism, cities and crime, energy, water hydropolitics, climate change, disability, fragile states, global war on terror, ethnic conflict, legal rights to development, ecosystems services for development, just to name a few. Existing chapters have been thoroughly revised to include cutting-edge developments, and to present updated further reading and websites. The Companion to Development Studies presents concise overviews providing a gateway to further reading and a flexible resource for teaching and learning. It has established a role as essential reading for all students of development studies, as well as those in cognate areas of geography, international relations, politics, sociology, anthropology and economics.

This volume examines the interrelated fields of food security, energy security and sustainable agriculture as the key to a stable global agricultural platform and is arranged in six parts. The first part is focused on policy considerations relating to food and energy security and sustainable agriculture. The authors from this part include Former Under Secretary of Agriculture Gale Buchanan, Former Under Secretary of Energy Raymond Orbach (Chapter 1), Stephen Hughes, Bryan Moser and William Gibbons (Chapter 2) and Thomas Redick (Chapter 3). Part II addresses soil and water, which are two of the key components in secure and sustainable food production. Authors from this part are Jerry Hatfield (Chapter 4) and Mahbub Alam, Sharon Megdal et al. (Chapter 5). The third part covers sustainable and secure food production specifically addressing genetically modified traits in Chapter 6 (James McWilliams) and omega-3 fatty acids in Chapter 7 (Jay Whelan et al.). Agronomic implications relative to food security and sustainable agriculture are described in Part IV. Authors include Ravi Sripada, Pradip Das et al. (Chapter 8), Duska Stojsin, Kevin Matson and Richard Leitz (Chapter 9) and S.H. Lee, David Clay and Sharon Clay (Chapter 10). International sustainable agriculture and food security is addressed in Part V with authors Jeff Vitale and John Greenplate (Chapter 11), Julie Borlaug et al. (Chapter 12) and Sylvester Oikeh et al. (Chapter 13). The final part covers the use of chemicals in sustainable agriculture and food/energy security with Leonard Gianessi and Ashley Williams communicating the role of herbicides and Harold Reetz emphasizing the importance of fertilizers both in maximizing crop yields to maintain a sustainable secure source for food production.

Certification of agricultural products (organic certification, Fairtrade etc.) is often expected to provide a wide array of benefits for small-scale farmers. These include poverty alleviation, reduced environmental impact and food safety. This wide-ranging synthesis of 270 studies presents an analysis of the benefits – but also the costs – of such schemes. Crucially it demonstrates that the decision to invest must be based on sound economic principles. Clearly laid out and argued, the text also provides recommendations to improve the certification business case and impact on smallholders.