Barriers to sustainable agribusiness: a systematic review and conceptual framework

Abstract

PurposeAs global concerns for sustainability have gained traction in all sectors of every economy including agribusiness, the need to investigate the critical barriers that could hamper this novelty has also risen. In that regard, this study presents a comprehensive overview of the dominant barriers encountered by agribusinesses to ensure long-term success through the lenses of a literature review.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a systematic literature review (SLR) of 43 relevant articles. The study applies content analysis to identify and analyze the selected articles. The conceptual framework underlines the three principal barriers to sustainable agribusinesses.FindingsThe results from the SLR demonstrates that inadequate financial support, excessive post-harvest loss, gender inequality, non-climate-smart policies and weak institutional controls constitute the major challenges to the sustainability of agribusinesses.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited in scope to barriers to the sustainability of agribusiness only not the broad spectrum of the concept of agriculture.Originality/valueThis study's uniqueness is twofold. First, it provides a checklist for practice with the goal of addressing problems that hamper the sustainability of agribusinesses. Second, the findings and research gaps in this study are important to support future studies.

Limitations of Sustainable Cocoa Agroforestry: A Literature Review

“…According to Barkemeyer et al (2014), there is no generally accepted definition for sustainability except the one expatiated by the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainability as "the integration of ecological principles into activities that minimizes the release of harmful substances onto the environment by human beings, preservation of the environment, improvement of human capital, and utilization of societal and economic models to solve problems that advance the production process and preserves natural resources for unborn generations" (Brenya et al 2022;Khomah et al 2021;and Klychova et al 2019). This assertion supports the United Nations Sustainable development goals SDGs in pursuing the achievement of agriculture sustainability, fiscal certainty, and social protection (Harlem Brundtland 1987).…”

“…An extensive review of existing literature on cocoa agroforestry limitations was undertaken using the Systematic Literature Review method. The Systematic Literature Review method analyzes present literature through article identification, selection, evaluation, and analysis as used by other studies (Akomea-Frimpong et al 2021, Aarseth et al 2017, Brenya et al 2022Velten et al 2015). The steps used in retrieving and analyzing literature on the limitations of sustainable cocoa agroforestry are as follows:…”

“…biodiversity conservation, cocoa yield and profit interests, and the propagation of afforestation. (Brenya et al 2022;Tschora and Cherubini 2020;Minang et al 2014) Environmental Limitations:…”

Barriers and Drivers of Sustainable Business Model Innovation: Present and Future Research Perspectives

“…The SRP is a methodology that allows for a thorough evaluation of the state-of-the-art in any given area of research while also identifying gaps in the literature to encourage further study and knowledge expansion [37,38] . The SRP provides a platform that helps to analyze earlier research in a step-by-step approach; starting with identifying the publications; selecting relevant studies; information retrieval; evaluation of the information, and ultimately reporting the results [39,40] . To formulate a conceptual limit and boundaries for this study, two academic experts were consulted at the initial stage of the research.…”

“…Hence, based on the proposed research questions, we identified the search strategy, located salient articles, created the inclusion and exclusion limits, and picked a particular synthesis approach. The study answers the research questions by identifying two up-to-date databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) to search for related articles on this topic [40] . To begin with, the authors used the search term "business model" and "barriers" to search these databases.…”