Beyond knowledge gaps: Value chain and institutional constraints on fig-based agroforestry adoption in Mediterranean Italy

Agroforestry is increasingly promoted as a sustainable land-use strategy in Mediterranean contexts, yet adoption remains limited. While existing studies emphasise knowledge gaps and technical barriers, less attention has been paid to value chain structures. This paper reports findings from a fig-based, single-case exploratory Living Lab established in Tuscany (Italy) within the AGROFIG PRIMA project, drawing on a mixed-methods design integrating surveys, participatory workshops, and co-design. Findings suggest that knowledge, value-chain governance and institutional coordination are relationally connected conditions for adoption, with perceived knowledge constraints shaped by the market and institutional interfaces through which knowledge is mobilised and valued. Value chain collapse and the degradation of AKIS infrastructure constitute the structural context within which such knowledge gaps arise and persist. Stakeholders consistently frame supply chain reconstruction as a precondition for agroforestry development, rather than an outcome. At the same time, the Living Lab process highlights the role of traditional ecological knowledge, local variety biodiversity, and territorially embedded practices in shaping agroforestry configurations adapted to marginal Mediterranean landscapes. Two co-designed system typologies—fig with arable crops, and fig with arable crops and livestock—reflect distinct trade-offs in labour, investment, and ecological resilience. The paper advances a reading of agroforestry adoption as a socio-economic and organisational process in which value chain development and institutional support are central enabling conditions, while positioning Living Labs as platforms for aligning knowledge, practices, and markets in the transition towards diversified Mediterranean farming systems.