IDH Podcasts

We are at a critical point in history when it comes to enabling living wages. Inflation and the rising cost of living poses big challenges to workers worldwide, leaving one third of them unable to earn a basic standard of living. However, next to big risks, this is also the time of big opportunities. The past years have seen increasingly more private and public sector initiatives on living wages....

In this new podcast episode, we discuss with Veronique Bovee, Deputy Director at Proforest, what aspects the palm oil industry can improve to achieve sustainability goals and what are the risks of the EU deforestation regulation on smallholder farmers. During the discussion, Veronique also highlights the positive aspects of the collaboration between IDH and Proforest and how we can work together t...

In this episode Celine Gilart, Director of Social Impact and Sustainability at Twinings, provides concrete examples of how women’s empowerment and gender equality can work to not only improve lives, but also be an engine for economic growth and business. It is clear there is a long way to go before we can say that all supply chains are safe and empowering for women, but efforts are being made to g...

Attempts to make our value chains gender inclusive can often mean adding women into the picture, but not really changing the power dynamics between men and women. IDH believes that to make our value chains sustainable, traditional norms, behaviours, and power dynamics need to be challenged and transformed. And male engagement on gender issues will be an essential part of that work. How can male en...

How is IDH working toward transforming the Palm Oil market? This podcast is a conversation between Neha Simlai, Senior Program Manager IDH, and Sneha Maheshwari, Program Officer, Palm Oil both based at the IDH India office. They discuss the potential of regional Asian markets, in particular India, to turn the tide towards responsible palm oil uptake and production.

Meet Talash Huibers, a young Kenyan agripreneur who is passionate about using her business to bring a transformative change to the world and who proofs that agriculture is cool and lucrative especially for the youth and women. She is the founder of InsectiPro, a company that is in business of growing insects. In this IDH podcast, our communication manager in IDH Kenya, Solomon Irungu, had a conver...

Seafood MAP is a globally inclusive digital platform to compile, accelerate, and improve all fisheries and aquaculture efforts on the pathway to sustainability. In this podcast, both Angel Matamoro, Chief CSR and Institutional Relations Officer of Nueva Pescanova Group and Annika Mackensen, Advisor Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture at GIZ, explain why they support Seafood MAP.

Slowly but surely, European commitments for using responsible and conversion-free soy are becoming concrete, as we can see in the 3rd European Soy Monitor that was recently launched. But what does responsible and conversion-free soy actually mean and how is uptake calculated in a commodities environment where transparency is lacking? In the new Sustainable Trade Podcast episode, Guilherme do Couto...

In April of this year, 2021, 12 companies came together in a call to action to help eradicate poverty through a commitment to build a living wage economy together. IDH is working to secure living wages through the Roadmap on Living Wages - a platform of more than 30 companies that work to strengthen international alignment and build tangible solutions regarding living wage. Eosta, a leading import...

The discussions you will hear in this podcast were all part of a learning event on cocoa traceability organized in October 2020 by Beyond Chocolate. Beyond Chocolate is a partnership for a more sustainable Belgian chocolate sector, and one of the critical targets that partners have committed to is “ending deforestation linked to cocoa production for the Belgian market by 2030”. The challenges and...

27 - Reflections of Joost Oorthuizen on IDH by IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative

In this podcast Nienke Stam, Program Director of Landscape Finance at IDH; Bambi Semroc, Vice President for the Centre for Sustainable Lands and Waters at Conservation International and John Buchanan, Vice President of Sustainable Production at Conservation International discuss “Green Recovery”, a term used to describe the necessary efforts to recover economic prosperity after the impacts of the...

In this podcast Flavio Corsin, IDH director of Aquaculture, talks about the importance of avoiding diseases in aquaculture as a sustainability tool. Disease outbreaks can cause major fish mortality, leading to loss of income and waste of inputs, threatens farmers long-term business. Corsin explains how IDH addresses this issue, and how farmers can use technology in their favour.

IDH’s Grown Sustainably in Africa (GSA) program works with international brands to strengthen and develop their supply base on the African continent, while empowering SMEs in Africa to enhance their agricultural productivity and become commercially viable. Through these partnerships GSA aims to increases intra-African trade, build stable regional food systems and create permanent and sustainable j...

In this podcast we will explore digital finance solutions for agricultural supply chains in the current COVID-19 crisis. IDH Farmfit’s Kaushik Ramakrishnan is joined by Ad Rietberg and Faith Mulwa from Agri-Wallet, an inspiring fintech company, to discuss the ground realities of the COVID-19 crisis in Africa, and what role digital finance solutions can play to make supply chains more resilient, es...

In this podcast Roel Messie, IDH's Chief Investment Officer is joined by Catalina Eikenberg and Carolin Ehrensperger from Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, the world's leading green coffee service group. They discuss new ways of smallholder farmer financing, with the potential to improve the lives of millions of farmers.

To kick off 2020, in this podcast we’ll take a look back at 2019. What are some of the highlights of our work from across the globe and in different industries? And of course, where are we going in 2020? Four topics are covered, including landscape approaches, developing smallholder businesses, living wage strategy, and cleaner production methods.

Beyond Chocolate celebrated its 1 year anniversary on December 5. The Belgian industry wide commitment works towards ending deforestation and realizing living incomes in cocoa in 2030. We hear from key players of the Belgian cocoa and chocolate world about the progress so far, and what the next important steps are.

This month we are talking about the first nation-wide commitment from retailers to close the living wage gap in the banana supply chain. You'll hear from Cindy Verhoeven from Superunie, a buying cooperative and Jordy van Honk, IDH’s Global Director agro-commodities. They will talk about how this commitment came about, the next steps ahead, as well as practical tips on how to work on living wage in...

On this World Food Day we put the farmer household at the centerl! Because despite most of the world’s food being grown by smallholder farmers, they also account for around half of the most undernourished people. This has to change, as not only does access to nutritious food have a significant impact on the overall health and resilience of smallholder farming families but also on rural economies....

A brand new chocolate bar from Ransiki sub-district in West-Papua, Indonesia, is one of the pioneers for green investment in the area. The cocoa is sustainably grown in Ransiki and the chocolate bar is the result of a collaboration between chocolate maker Pipiltin Cocoa, the local and provincial governments, the farmers' cooperative and IDH Indonesia. Melati from IDH Indonesia and Tissa Aunilla fr...

Today we are going to talk about the world of data and agriculture. Data is very valuable as it can greatly improve farm management. Sharing these data insights helps cross-learning between businesses from different countries and different commodities. For that reason Yayasan IDH organizes its first Learning Launch Pad and brought together six experts specialized in technology and business develop...

In this month's podcast we hear from Kebba Colley, Director Inclusive Business Development at IDH. Kebba works on Agricultural Value Chain Development in Africa, both with African SMEs and global brands. We'll dive into both perspectives: how can African SMEs reach domestic, regional and global markets; how can global brands increase their sourcing from Africa; and what does this all mean for the...

In this month's episode we talk to Jonas Mva Mva, IDH's Cocoa Program Director to learn more about some of the issues in the Cocoa sector and how IDH and partners are working together to address them. We also learn about the link between cocoa and deforestation, the Green Cocoa Program in Cameroon and the importance of finance to smallholder farms.

In this month's episode we hear from Richard Fairburn who shares his personal experience and lessons learned as senior advisor in many of IDH's programs. What conditions are important for a good and open discussion? How do you deal with priorities and interests of different stakeholders? Based on several practical field examples, Richard gives tips and advise on how to best ensure engagement withi...