Given the diversity of active institutions and stakeholders in a landscape, and the difficulties in ensuring inclusive decision-making, evaluating landscape governance can help surface and address underlying issues. In the context of two protected area landscapes in Uganda, where landscape approaches are being implemented through a wider project on landscape governance, we analyse stakeholder perceptions of inclusive decision-making and then use this evaluation to stimulate dialogue amongst stakeholder groups in each landscape. We ask, how can capturing, analysing, and collaboratively applying people’s perceptions address inclusive decision-making in landscape governance? We collected and analysed perceptions using SenseMaker®, a software package that enables analysis of micronarratives (stories) from the field based on how respondents classify their own stories, using triads, dyads, stones, and multiple-choice questions. This self-categorisation by the respondent reduces bias in the analysis and allows the micronarrative to be cross-examined in a variety of ways when analysed using Sensemaker. This analysis created an integrated view of the stakeholder’s perceptions about inclusive decision-making in landscape governance. The results show large portions of the respondents feel their voices are neglected, and management of the landscape is poor in Mount Elgon, while in Agoro-Agu, it is the opposite trend. During a community feedback process, reasons for these trends were discussed and solutions proposed. Some of the underlying factors include historical relationships with park authorities and displacement during park creation. To more precisely answer our research question, one could have extended stays in the communities studied in these landscapes, using ethnographic methods including interviews and participant observation; nonetheless, our method, including the feedback process, was an innovative and important way to confront our findings with the informants directly and foster collaborative action. We conclude that understanding people’s perceptions, including through participatory feedback, can significantly inform and improve management decisions, help resolve conflicts, and facilitate dialogue between different stakeholders in the landscape.

Inclusive agribusiness considers social and environmental goals in global value chains in agribusiness. However, not all small-scale farmers may be able to benefit from such arrangements. To find out about possible reasons for exclusion, this study investigates an agribusiness initiative in coastal Kenya employing organic contract farming by applying a mixed-methods research design based on household sampling of the recruitment procedure, as well as interviews with the farmers and company representatives. The findings suggest that sustainability standards may impede small-scale farmers’ participation in agribusiness. Specifically, the implementation of organic certification, essential for the functionality of the company business models, contributes most to small-scale farmer exclusion. Companies, clients, and, most importantly, certifiers should be aware of this problem and look for appropriate measures to overcome this unwanted effect of standard-setting in inclusive businesses.

PurposeMoringa (Moringa oleifera) is a highly nutritious, fast-growing crop that has emerged in Western markets as a “superfood” and as a “smart crop” for income generation potential among small-scale farmers. As such, moringa has been widely promoted by agricultural development practitioners in low-income countries and by emerging businesses aimed at achieving nutritional and social impact. However, the intrinsic nutritional and agronomic strengths of moringa are not enough to warrant its widespread promotion without first evaluating its economic potential to farmers.Design/methodology/approachA Land Use System (LUS) analysis modeling tool was employed to test the economic performance of two sets of moringa production practices in Kenya. Data were collected during in-depth interviews and field visits with farmers in Meru that supply a local market, and in Shimba Hills that supply an organic export market.FindingsResults suggest that current production practices over an 12-years assessment period generate a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$8,049 [ha-1] in Meru and a negative NPV of US$697 [ha-1] in Shimba Hills; with average daily returns to family labor of these two production systems of roughly 1.6 times and 0.13 times the prevailing local wage rate, respectively. These differences were attributed to a higher farmgate prices and greater yields in Meru. The analysis tool was then used to predict the effects of changes in farming practices, e.g. if farmers in Meru switched to intensive bed cultivation NPV is estimated to increase by ∼650%.Research limitations/implicationsThis study demonstrates the importance of examining the economic performance of agricultural production systems intended to increase the benefits to small-scale farmers.Originality/valueOur study is the first to assess moringa's economic performance within two production systems in Kenya – a local farmers' cooperative in Meru, and a group of farmers contracted by an export company.