Dr. Evans Appiah Kissi

Evans has been a postdoctoral researcher and a lecturer for “Responsible and Sustainable Food Business in Global Contexts (RSFB)” and "Strategic Management" at the Section for Sustainable Management in the International Food Industry since June 2021. Evans was previously a PhD student (an alumnus of the International Centre for Development and Decent Work, ICDD scholarship) and teaching/research assistant for the RSFB module from October 2016 to March 2021.

Since 2021, Evans has been actively involved in training and the sensitisation of smallholder cocoa and other crop farmers in Ghana on various sustainability issues (incl. child labour, climate change, diversification and deforestation) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) “Diaspora 2030 Programme”.

Evans was awarded a PhD (Dr. agr.) from the University of Kassel, Germany in April 2021 for a dissertation on “Governance for Decent Work in Agricultural Globalisation”. He holds a master’s degree in Sustainable International Agriculture (with specialisation in International Agribusiness and Rural Development Economics) from the University of Göttingen and Kassel, Germany. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Evans's research interest lies primarily in the sustainability management of agri-food value chains (e.g. cocoa), with a particular focus on several key concepts. These concepts include:

• Human Rights (Incl. child labour, labour rights, and working conditions)
• Living income (Incl. economic upgrading, commodity prices, and diversification)
• Governance (incl. certification standards and corporate due diligence laws)
• Environmental Protection (Inlc. climate change, deforestation, and pesticide use)

Kissi, E. A., & Herzig, C. (2024). The implications of governance factors for economic and social upgrading in Ghana's cocoa value chain. Agric Econ  12, 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-024-00295-wvv

Kissi, E. A., & Herzig, C. (2023). Labor relations and working conditions of workers on smallholder cocoa farms in Ghana. Agriculture and Human Values, 1-12. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10460-023-10470-2

Kissi, E. A, & Herzig, C. (2021). Governance of Decent Work in Ghana's Cocoa Industry: Implications for Economic and Social Upgrading. German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA) > 61st Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 2021. 10.22004/ag.econ.317070

Kissi, E. A. (2021). Governance for Decent Work in Agricultural Globalization (Doctoral dissertation). http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.17170/kobra-202105273994

Kissi, E. A., & Herzig, C. (2020). Methodologies and Perspectives in Research on Labor Relations in Global Agricultural Production Networks: A Review. The Journal of Development Studies, 56(9), 1615-1637. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220388.2019.1696956

Armah, E., Kissi, E. A., & Fiankor, D. D. D. (2019). The impact of the National Food Buffer Stock Company on price transmission in Ghana. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 14(3), 169-183. http://dx.doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.301040

Mensah, A. K., Mahiri, I. O., Owusu, O., Mireku, O. D., Wireko, I., & Kissi, E. A. (2015). Environmental Impacts of Mining: A Study of Mining Communities in Ghana. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 3, (3), 81-94. 10.12691/aees-3-3-3

Mensah, A. K., Kissi, E. A., Krah, K., & Mireku, O. D. (2015). The extent of groundwater use for domestic and irrigation activities in Thiririka sub-catchment, Gatundu South District, Kiambu County, Kenya. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 7(6), 519-530. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2015.1919

Sakyi-Dawson, O., Effah, D., Kalms, J-M., Jannot, C., Akuamoah-Boateng, S., Manu, S.A., Kissi, E. A. (2013). MV Palm research report 2012 (Ghana). Montpellier: CIRAD, 46 p. agritrop. cirad.fr/567837/

Kissi, E. A, & Herzig, C. (2021). Governance of Decent Work in Ghana's Cocoa Industry: Implications for Economic and Social Upgrading. German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA) > 61st Annual Conference, Berlin, Germany, September 2021.

Kissi, E. A., & Herzig, C. (2019). Methodologies for Understanding Labor Relations in Global Agricultural Production Networks: A Review. XIV Global Labor University Conference, Berlin, Germany, March 2019.

Kissi, E.A. (2019). Governing decent work in Ghanaian cocoa production: the effectiveness of certification standards for economic and social upgrading. International Working Seminar on Responsibility and Accountability of Supply Chains, Kassel, Germany, March 2019.

Kissi, A.E. (2018). Private Sustainability Initiatives in the Cocoa Sector of Ghana - Do they Promote Economic and Social Upgrading? U4 SSEL Conference "Current Challenges for a Sustainable Future," Göttingen, Germany, November 2018.

Kühn, A.-L., Herzig, C., Boutopoulou, A. & Kissi, A.E. (2016). The Nature and Determinants of Companies' Reporting on Decent Work Issues. Global Labour University Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2016.