Pollination is a concern for cardamom farmers as it is difficult to maintain pollinator populations in plantations between
years. The innovative solution that is gaining popularity for ensuring quality pollination services to cardamom in South West India, is the use of managed forestry to create "sequential blooms" in mixed coffee and cardamom plantations.

A geographical indication (GI) is a form of protection highlighted in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It protects intangible economic assets such as the quality and reputation of a product through market differentiation. It is considered a promising tool at the international level to maintain multifunctionality in rural landscapes and involve local populations in biodiversity management and conservation.

The negative effects of climate change are already evident for many of the 25 million coffee farmers across the tropics and the 90 billion dollar (US) coffee industry. The coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei), the most important pest of coffee worldwide, has already benefited from the temperature rise in East Africa: increased damage to coffee crops and expansion in its distribution range have been reported. In order to anticipate threats and prioritize management actions for H. hampei we present here, maps on future distributions of H. hampei in coffee producing areas of East Africa.

This study analyses the impact of the asean-India Preferential Trade Agreement on plantation commodities – coffee, tea and pepper – using the smart and gravity models. This reveals that the agreement may cause a significant increase in India’s imports of plantation commodities from the asean countries, which is mostly driven by trade creation rather than trade diversion.

When shopping for food, ever more consumers in rich nations pay attention not only to prices, appearance and flavour. They also consider environmental and social aspects. Therefore, certifications of organic production, fair-trade practices or regional origin often lead to a premium in the marketplace and can benefit small-scale farmers.