Using Causal Loop Diagram as a Qualitative Instrument to Model Smallholders: A Case Study of Goat Farming in Gumelar – Banyumas

Abstract

The objective of this article was to devise an approach that optimizes the participation of farmers and other stakeholders in (1) understanding the overall systems well enough to identify the problematic situations, the situations which participants considered as uncomfortable, and (2) developing a qualitative model as the basis to formulate the most feasible strategies for mitigating the identified problematic situation. A series of interviews and workshops involving 27 goat farmers who are members of Kelompok Tani Tunas Mukti in Kecamatan Gumelar, Banyumas, have been undertaken. Results of the CATWOE analysis showed that the basic problem of the smallholder goat farming was the real current income of the goat-farming activities that was still under the farmers’ expectation. From this a causal loop diagram (CLD) was assembled based on two main variables: farmers’ income and goat population. There were two types of archetypes identified within the CLD: limits to growth and shifting the burden. The use of CLD as the qualitative modeling provided depth and richness to the findings through the ability of the models to find the feedback loops and describe linkages among elements within the systems. The identified archetypes help the researchers and farmers to find reasonable strategy to overcome the problem of limited goat-farming income.