CONTEXT Agricultural management systems of many smallholders in low and middle-income countries depend on services by pollinator populations. However, increased adoption of modern inputs and particularly the wide-spread use of agrochemicals threaten pollinators and smallholders' crop production....

Over the last five decades, the growing demand for ecosystem services, such as food, water and fuel has led to the most rapid and extensive changes in ecosystems in human history. Examples for these transformations include the agricultural intensification at the habitat and landscapes scale. In...

Biomass is still the dominant source of energy used by most rural households in the developing world. Current use patterns have been linked to adverse effects on forest resources. Alternative fuels such as kerosene could mitigate these negative effects. In order to design policies that enhance...

This dissertation consists of three experimental studies that aim at contributing to a better understanding of behavior within contractual relationships—in particular, if information asymmetries, incentive issues and a lack of formal institutions make exchange more difficult and risky....

We investigate land-use dynamics in Jambi, Sumatra, one of the hotspots of Indonesia' recent oil palm boom. Data from a structured village survey are used to analyze the role of socioeconomic and policy factors. Oil palm is partly grown on large plantations, but smallholders are also involved...

Through contract farming schemes between cohorts of farmers and private companies the Indonesian government intended to spur rural economic development. In particular within the oil palm sector, such community-company 'partnerships' are commonplace. Yet, empirical evidence of the success of...

In this paper we study the dynamics of smallholder participation in export value chains focusing on the example of small-scale broccoli producers in the highlands of Ecuador. We analyze the extent of participation over an 11-year time period using correlated random effects and diff-GMM models...