strategic research agenda for cocoa coffee wageningen ur 09062014

Developing strategic research agendas

for cocoa and coffee

Interactive session , 2nd World Cocoa Conference, Amsterdam

09 June 2014

Verina Ingram, Don Jansen, Lucas Judge

Introduction

Wageningen UR leading a Top Sector Public Private Partnership project with KIT, CIRAD, IDH, DE Foundation, UTZ and Dutch government ‘Enhancing sustainability of Dutch cocoa and coffee imports: Synergy between practice, policy, strategy and knowledge’ to improve the sustainability of the cocoa and coffee sectors.

Cocoa and coffee are crops with persistent problems: ● Growing demand combined with volatile production and prices ● Concerns about quality, farmer livelihoods, climate change, keeping soils

fertile and managing pest and diseases, enhancing relations between producer and consumer countries, securing sustainable supply and production.

Much research globally but fragmented, often not accessible to parties in the chain that need it,

Scope to increase knowledge transfer across crops.

Need to “rejuvenate” and build capacity in research

Implies need for (more) research and (more) collaboration and coordination between researchers in origin and consumption countries and (better) dissemination among users and stakeholders: governments, farmers, industry, support organisations.

Verina

Why develop strategic, collaborative

research agendas for cocoa and coffee?

The need has been signalled (again)!

Priorities, needs and interests not always clear

Contribute to a (shared) vision for these commodities in the future

Provide guidance and a wider framework for those commissioning

research

Coordinate research efforts and dissemination

whilst

o Recognising the diversity of needs

o Learning from previous initiatives

o Building on current initiatives, platforms and networks

The survey

circa. 350 people contacted directly

Asked to forward link on within their networks

Link posted on various websites and via social media

Survey available since beginning of December 2013

First round closed on the 8th May 2014

Initial analysis completed......

First meeting 62 people in research 23 May 2014 in Wageningen

Survey results

76 respondents so far. Where do they come

from?

62% 14%

11%

8% 4% 1%

Europe Africa

Latin America Asia/Pacific

North America Worldwide

Europe (47) Latin America (8)

NL 24 Brazil 3

UK 10 Costa Rica 2

Germany 3 Colombia 1

Belgium 2 Honduras 1

Italy 2 Nicaragua 1

Switzerland 2 Africa (11)

France 1 Cameroon 4

Luxembourg 1 Ghana 2

Spain 1 Uganda 2

EU 1 Kenya 1

Asia/Pacific (6) South Africa 1

Australia 3 West Africa 1

Indonesia 2 North America (3)

Vietnam 1 USA 3

Worldwide (1)

The 76 respondents so far: Who are they?

29%

18%

53%

Cocoa

Coffee

Both

30%

30%

17%

12%

8% 3%

Private Sector

Research/knowledge institute

Civil Society

Government

Other

Industry Association

Research?

31%

9%

33%

27%

Yes (in-house) ONLY

Yes (3rd party) ONLY

Yes (in-house + 3rdparty)

No

No research, why not? • Lack of internal capacity/budget; • External research is too expensive; • Research conducted by umbrella organisations, indirect

involvement; • Research Institutions conduct research using external funding

Current research

At first glance: same topics

equally important for coffee &

cocoa

Private sector involvement

stronger in cocoa

Relative importance of different

stakeholder types varies by

research topic

Research gaps

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1Agronomy

Economics

Environment

Processing

Social

Sustainability

Organization

Other

Fraction of total participants indicating gap

Total Coffee + Cocoa

Total Cocoa

Total Coffee

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1Agronomy

Economics

Environment

Processing

Social

Sustainability

Organization

Other

Fraction per gremium indicating gap Coffee

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1Agronomy

Economics

Environment

Processing

Social

Sustainability

Organization

Other

Fraction per gremium indicating gap Cocoa

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

Important gaps in research

indicated

• Overall similar for coffee &

cocoa

• Importance of gaps varies

per stakeholder type

• Agronomic issues mentioned

most, and by all stakeholders

Research gaps: total responses per field

Agronomy Economics Environment Processing Social Sustainability Organization Other

Civil 9 2 1 2 9 2 4 1

Private 34 3 1 5 2 5 7 4

Government 15 3 3 2 0 2 1 0

Research 42 7 6 3 4 6 2 1

Other 14 2 0 1 0 7 6 1

Totaal 114 17 11 13 15 22 20 7

Economics Environment Processing Social Sustainability Organization

major issue

Profitability

Landscape

approach

Postharvest /

quality

Diversity

farmers /

farms

M&E,

Impact

Service

delivery

nr of

respondents 6 4 7 7 7 10

nr other topics 9 4 5 6 10 9

Research gaps Agronomy

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Genetics /breeding

Pest / Disease

ClimateChange

Productivity

Soil / fertility

Rehabilitation/ Rejuvenation

Diversification/ risk

Others

Research gaps Agronomy


Total Cocoa

Total Coffee

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Genetics /breeding

Pest /Disease

ClimateChange

Productivity

Soil / fertility

Rehabilitation /

Rejuvenation

Diversification / risk

Others

Knowledge gaps Agronomy Cocoa

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Genetics /breeding

Pest /Disease

ClimateChange

Productivity

Soil /fertility

Rehabilitation /

Rejuvenation

Diversification / risk

Others

Knowledge gaps Agronomy Coffee

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

Genetics/breeding most

mentioned and by all

stakeholders

Climate change mainly

mentioned by government and

research

Most topics more urgent in cocoa

than in coffee

Overlap in research

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

YesOverlap

NoOverlap

Unclearif

Overlap

OverlapNegative

OverlapPositive

NoOverlapNegative

NoOverlapPositive

Coordination /

Collaboration…

Overlap in Research


Total Cocoa

Total Coffee

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

YesOverlap

NoOverlap

Unclearif

Overlap

OverlapNegative

OverlapPositive

NoOverlapNegative

NoOverlapPositive

Coordination /

Collaboration…

Overlap in Research Coffee

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

YesOverlap

NoOverlap

Unclearif

Overlap

OverlapNegative

OverlapPositive

NoOverlapNegative

NoOverlapPositive

Coordination /

Collaboration…

Overlap in Research Cocoa

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

Overlap in research

• Not always seen negatively

• But more coordination and

collaboration may help

efficiency and efficacy

Changes in motivation for research

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1CSR

Lack ofavailableresearch

OtherIncrease +Maintain

Supply

Increase +MaintainQuality

Motivation current research Cocoa

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1CSR

Lack of availableresearch

OtherIncrease +

Maintain Supply


Motivation future research Cocoa

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

CSR


OtherIncrease +

Maintain Supply


Motivation current research Coffee

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

CSR


OtherIncrease +

Maintain Supply


Motivation future research Coffee

Civil

Private

Government

Research

Other

How is research funded?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40Internally funded

Externally funded

Subsidies

Government funds

Partial funding

PPP

Coffee

Cocoa

Coffee + Cocoa

Total

What is the timescale of research being

conducted?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30Short (<2 years)

Medium (2-5 years)

Long (>5 years)

No response

Coffee

Cocoa

Coffee + Cocoa

Total

Financing cycle of activities / projects

Short

(< 2 yrs)

Medium

(2-5 yrs)

Long

(> 5 yrs)

Genetic /

breeding4 9 16

Pest &

Disease1 11 6

Climate

change5 6 6

Short

(< 2 yrs)

Medium

(2-5 yrs)

Long

(> 5 yrs)Total

Civil 4 5 1 10

Private 4 9 8 21

Government 4 2 3 9

Research 6 10 7 23

Other 3 4 1 8

Totaal 21 30 20 71

Normal financing cycle per stakeholder

Normal financing cycle per stakeholder mentioning research gap on indicated (long term) topics

What are the challenges facing research?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60Insufficient funds

Time scale

Cost of 3rd party

Other

Coffee Cocoa Coffee + Cocoa Total

Other?

• Competition between standards to prove

impact leads to fragmentation of impacts

research

• Lack of external expertise to interpret our

intervention logic

• Lack of awareness of need for long-term pre-

competitive research within parts of industry

• Crop improvement requires long-term

investment

• Difficulty cooperating with local institutions

• Human resources (capacity, expertise, age)

• Lack of internal resources to manage

research programs

• Setting right priorities

How can these challenges be overcome?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Own research

External Consultants

Research / Knowledgeinstitutes

Joint projects

Collaborations / Partnerships

OtherCoffee

Cocoa

Coffee + Cocoa

Total

Other?

• Pool questions and resources

• Seek wider industry participation

• Develop a long-term funding

mechanism

• Improve capacity in developing

countries

• Prioritization of research topics

Strategic research lines

Priority Research lines Key themes

1 Vulnerability and

productivity

• Production systems, performance and risk management

• Production system diagnostics

• Breeding, productivity, resistance and quality

• Pest and disease spread, control and monitoring

2 Diversity and

sustainability of

production

• Genetics

• Social, economic and ecological diversity and resilience

farmers, production systems, environment, organisations &

chains

3 Market transformation

and transparency

• Market/chain interactions and economics

• Chain of custody and certification

4 Quality and new

business models

• Quality prognosis and improvement

• Production, processing and chain models, efficiency and

impacts

5 Service delivery and

concerted action

• Effectiveness service delivery to small holders

• Models and impact concerted and collective action

• Governance models impact on service delivery and concerted

action on production and quality

• Scale and connectivity

Production sustainability

Consumption & chain sustainability

Sector strategic management

Abidjan Declaration 2012

Industry chain sustainability

& Sector strategic

management

Production sustainability

Who are our stakeholders? Who uses

the research?

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

% o

f resp

on

den

ts

Current platforms (general)

Chocowerkgroep SFL ICCO

ICO Progresso 4C Association

COSA Sustainable Food Lab FAO Advisory Committee FAST ISEAL UNFSS ICOPR CSP IDH

State of Sustainability Initiatives AgroProFocus Development Studies

Association VLIR-UOS Plantbreeders Training

Network

Current research initiatives

CocoaConnect

COPAL

CacaoNet (Global Cacao Genetic Resources Network)

WCF and WCF African Cocoa Initiative (WCF/ACI)

INGENIC (International group for generic improvement of cocoa)

INCOPED (Permanent working group for cocoa pests and diseases)

Caobisco-ECA-FCC Research WG

INAFORESTA (agroforestry and environment)

National level • Ghana Cocoa Platform • CRA-GCGRA-CRUK • PPPP-CCC Ivory Coast

World Coffee Research

ASIC

Sustainable Coffee Partnership (SCP)

CoffeeReseach.org

Lets Talk Coffee

CORNET Coffee research network ASARECA

National & regional:

• Uganda Platform • JNC Peru • African Coffee Research

Network (ACRN)

Convergence of Science CoS-SIS

Preference for type of platform

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

nu

mb

er o

f resp

on

ses

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

all cocoa

all cofeeboth

% interested in joining multi-stakeholder platform to obtain and/or

communicate research results?

Interest to join a platform, to

obtain and/or communicate

research results

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Civil

Private

GovernmentResearch

Other

Summary

Around 50% say a strategic agenda s needed – particularly in cocoa

There are overlaps and some initiatives that could be up scaled to

cover the specific issues, but also provide the multi-stakeholder

platform most stated as needed

Main research gaps in both coffee and cocoa are in agronomy, climate

change, pests and diseases and productivity

Major drivers of research in both coffee and cocoa now for all

stakeholders are to maintain and increase quality and supply, as a

CSR obligation and due to a lack of available research

There is interest to collaborate in both sectors –different perceptions

on what kind of collaboration is needed – single or multi-stakeholder,

single issue or multi-issue?

Examples cocoa research platforms

CocoaConnect

WCF

COPAL

CRA/CRUK/GCGRA collaborative Industry Research

International Cocoa Research Groups (INCOCOA) informal working groups

Cocoa CONNECT

• International knowledge portal to share, meet and learn for

sustainable cocoa (online since March 2013)

Why?

• Coordination

• Put knowledge in the public domain

• Identify knowledge gaps

• Research

• Owned by the members of the Dutch Choco Working Group

• Moderated by KIT Sustainable Economic Development (Royal

Tropical Institute)

• Financially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic

Affairs

• Active through website (www.cocoaconnect.org), facebook

and twitter

Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

Cocoa CONNECT functions

• To share – access to information

• To meet – meeting place/market place

• To learn – work space


Challenges

• Participation

• Maintenance

• Business model


How can it contribute to common research agenda? • Build on existing platform How?

• Connection with other platforms Who?

• Revise/build in functions What?

• Work towards a strategy When?


• UK-based non-profit scientific cocoa research associations

• Focus on conservation and utilisation of genetic resources to support

efforts to get better planting materials to farmers and research to

improve integrated crop management (inc. pests & disease control,

agronomy, food safety aspects)

• Emphasis on public domain research: publication of results to make

them widely available to research community)

www.cocoaresearch.org.uk Current contributors/partners:

CRA, CRUK, GCGRA

CRA, CRUK, GCGRA

CRA, CRUK

CRUK

GCGRA

CRA/CRUK/GCGRA Collaborative Industry Research

http://www.cocoaresearch.org.uk/

“INCOCOA”

International Cocoa Research Groups • Informal groups with a common interest in aspects of cocoa research • Workshops to coincide with COPAL International Cocoa Research Conferences • Working Groups, websites and email lists to promote sharing of information and

collaborative activities • Some support and in-kind contributions from industry, research institutions, and

other sponsors allow secretariats to function and to support workshops

www.incocoa.org

The International Group for the Genetic Improvement of Cocoa

The International Permanent Working Group for Cocoa Pests and Diseases

Sustainable Cocoa Production in Agroforestry Systems

Ingredients of a strategic research

agenda collaboration .......

1. Transparent, shared goals and vision

2. A efficient convening platform (coordination, secretariat, regular

communication, organise events)

3. Define members, their contribution and roles

4. Agreement and commitment to a strategic agenda

5. Agreement and commitment to a coordinated approach (e.g.

common indicators, standards, guidelines, data management, data sharing and the

process)

6. Agree on resources to support and sustain 1-5

7. Independence of research outputs (from those commissioning)

8. Quality of research (methods)

Different models

14 international research centres, a common data collection methods to ensure sites comparison across space and time> 250 sites in 15 countries from 1992 - date. Open access database with information about biodiversity, livelihoods, institutions, & forest carbon

Formal formal Formal, membership based

Coordinated Secretariat Coordination unit

Open access data Semi-open access Closed data

International research project & network since 2004 semi-open database 8000+ households in 40+ study sites in 25 countries. comparative, detailed socio-economic data collected quarterly at household and village level by 50+ research partners using standardised definitions, questionnaires and methods.

90 global participants funding and building a scientific foundation driving innovation in consumer product sustainability: transparent LCA methodologies, tools, and strategies addressing environmental, social, and economic issues. Jointly administered by Arizona State University, University of Arkansas Wageningen University, & Nanjing University.

Reddit bridges a gap between the people who do or report science and the public that enjoys it: ‘’science for

dummies’’ online .

NGO, administered by Texas A&M University System, technical advisory committee of industry and researchers, sources funding and conducts research.

Avenues for collaboration?

Discuss the goal(s) and topics seen as priorities for a developing a strategic agenda: do participants agree? Are there other priorities?:

● Vulnerability and productivity

● Diversity and sustainability

● Market transformation and transparency

● Quality and new business models

● Service delivery and concerted action

Should and can these be tackled together? Or separately? In a multi-stakeholder platform? How to build on existing initiatives/platforms?

GENERAL DISCUSSION

ISSUES

Pre-competitiveness and confidentiality

Increasing availability of data currently out there

Multi or single stakeholder? Wide or single issue?

Which level most appropriate for different issues ?

Linking up local, regional and international level?

Capacity building?

Upcoming events we can use to

consolidate a network....

WCF/ACI Regional Symposium of the Next Generation of Cocoa Research for the West and Central African Cocoa Region, November 11-14 2013, Ibadan, Nigeria

WCF Partnership Meeting and Round Table Sessions, 15 - 16 October 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark

COPAL, International Cocoa Research Conference, Oct 2015, Peru?

Congreso Café Cacao, 14 - 17 April 2015, Havana, Cuba

http://worldcocoafoundation.org/wcf-cocoa-industry-events/

http://www.eventospalco.com/index.php/es/eventos/icalrepeat.detail/2015/04/13/168/-/vi-congreso-forestal-de-cuba.html

Action: Break out multi-stakeholder

groups→ Discuss → Report back

the “ingredients” of collaboration

1. Goals and vision of specific

structure

2. Convening platform

3. Members, contribution and roles

4. What (e.g. common indicators, standards,

joint research, guidelines, management, data

sharing, publishing etc.)

5. Resources needed (including building on

existing initiatives)

the “content” of collaboration

1. Which research lines?

2. Which research questions

should be asked?

3. Which topics are missing?

4. Should there be a geographical

focus?

Next steps?

Follow up: A petite committee is willing to move things forward : Wageningen UR, Cocoa Research UK, IITA, Bioversity, Mars, CAOBISCO, KIT, NRI, CIRAD (in absentia)