Greening in Farming Value Chains and Networks: An Explorative Case Study

An interesting conundrum arises regarding how to transform the value chains and networks of various categories of human activities to cope with climate change effects. Ideally, in terms of sustainable development goal number 2, there is the need to concurrently deal with the effects of climate change whilst shifting agrifood value chains and networks towards naturepositive trajectories. The word ‘green’ and associated terminology ‘greening’ have taken on new significance as evidenced from extant discourse on how to mitigate and/or tackle the increasing adverse effects of climate change with concurrent shift to a nature-positive direction. In this regard, the concept of ‘greening’ embraces contexts such as circularity, decarbonization, vegetation greening, sustainable land use, and the preservation of biodiversity across many sectors of human endeavour. Thus, ‘greening’ is regarded as a principle in green growth economic policies and nature-positive strategies. Discourse on greening tends to be dominated by academic and policy/governance pundits, sometimes vitiating the opinions of ‘not-so-formal’ practitioners. This article discusses what ‘greening’ means to practitioners within a particular agrifood value chain and network. The narratives reiterate that, even within urban settings, greening practices such as sustainable land use and preservation of biodiversity are intrinsic knowledge areas for artisanal, subsistence, and small-scale entrepreneurial farmers.