Sustainable green economies with tree commodities: the dominant narratives in Africa

Green economy policies that are meant to stimulate tree crop commodity production in ways that support farmer wellbeing, environmental quality, employment and a national economy would typically consist of regulations,incentives/investment, and a ‘narrative’. The narratives rationalize the choices made and are meant to motivate societal parties to all play their part. Tree crop commodities are an important part of the discussion on ‘greening’ the economy of African countries, as they are an important part of the agriculture-based economy, and they face challenges in matching current environmental and social norms and standards in global trade. Greening the economy is at the centre of a network of ‘narratives’ that link various contrasting views on tree crops (Minang et al 2022 chapter 1) to the economic, ecological, social, and governance aspects of the innovation challenge (van Noordwijk et al 2022 chapter 3) of market-based growth, as part of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (see Minang et al 2022 chapter 2), as this chapter explores (Figure 29.1).

• View from World Agroforestry website