Exploring sustainable netchains of smallholder cocoa farmers in Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine the interplay between regional netchain and value chain performance of smallholder cocoa farmers in Indonesia. The analysis was based on in-depth interviews with 45 key informants from two major regional cocoa netchains. Participatory rural assessment technique was employed during the interviews in order to identify how regional netchain dimensions are interacted with value chain performance. The results proved the contributions of governance mechanism and social embedding into the value chain performance. Governance mechanism was regarded as the most important variable to secure price stability, hence leads to a viable and sustainable regional netchain of cocoa production. Furthermore, social embedding also played an important role through the influence of patron–client systems.