Efficient but Poor: Analyzing Dual Crop Interdependency and Poverty among Cash-constrained Smallholders in Kambara, Africa

Second Author's Department

Management Department

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https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2024.212bp

All Authors

Rachad Bani Samari, Sherwat Ibrahim

Document Type

Research Article

Publication Title

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings

Publication Date

1-1-2024

doi

10.5465/AMPROC.2024.212bp

Abstract

In production systems, operational decisions to overcome constraints and achieve optimal efficiency often follow a one-way sequential rationale. This may be efficient in the short-term but could eventually generate unintended iterations. This study investigates smallholders’ granular decisions in agriculture. Through a system thinking perspective, we analyze how cash-constrained smallholders’ operational decisions may be detrimental to their socioeconomic well-being. We reveal that limited access to finance compelled smallholders to adopt a “dual-cropping interdependent” practice between cotton and corn. While efficient in the short-term, the practice represents one-way thinking that generates unintended iterations and a feedback loop trapping the smallholders into poverty.

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