In Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, many small-scale cocoa producers cultivate cocoa in unshaded or low-shaded plots, leading to challenges such as reduced biodiversity, soil fertility depletion, and increased soil erosion. To assess the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in the cocoa sector, we develop a scale that incorporates dimensions of agroforestry, soil conservation, pest and disease management and farm sanitation. Using data from >1700 cocoa producers, we examine farmer participation in cooperatives and three main certification schemes (incl. Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic) to understand their roles in promoting sustainable practices. We apply a multinomial endogenous switching regression model to control for potential selection bias and estimate the impact of participating in certification schemes, farmer cooperatives or both. In Côte d'Ivoire, econometric results show that joint participation in both a certification scheme and a farmer cooperative is associated with a significantly higher sustainability score. In Ghana, certification scheme membership shows the highest effect.

中文翻译：

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可可生产的可持续实践。认证计划和农民合作社的作用


在科特迪瓦和加纳，许多小规模可可生产商在无荫或低荫地块种植可可，导致生物多样性减少、土壤肥力耗竭和土壤侵蚀加剧等挑战。为了评估可可行业采用可持续农业实践的情况，我们制定了一个涵盖农林业、土壤保持、病虫害管理和农场卫生等各个方面的量表。我们利用超过 1700 家可可生产商的数据，研究了农民对合作社和三个主要认证计划（包括公平贸易、雨林联盟和有机认证）的参与情况，以了解他们在促进可持续实践方面的作用。我们应用多项内生切换回归模型来控制潜在的选择偏差，并估计参与认证计划、农民合作社或两者的影响。在科特迪瓦，计量经济学结果表明，共同参与认证计划和农民合作社与显着提高的可持续性得分相关。在加纳，认证计划会员资格显示出最高的效果。