Canvassing the Complexity of Beef Cattle Farming; an Entry Point to Qualitative Modelling

Abstract

In Indonesia, most of the beef farming are embedded in a larger agricultural system. Beef farming becomes one activity among various activities which commonly managed by farmers household. This multifaceted roles makes beef farming a complex systems. Studying complexity requires an approach which designed to deal with such complexity.  One of the alternative approach is qualitative modelling using Causal Loop Diagram (CLD).  The entry point to develop a model is identifying the everyday flux of beef farming activities.  However, this often constrained by the hesitance of farmers to engage in the discussion.  Researcher need to build an engagement design which should be able to promote discussion and encourage people to start talking.  This article aimed to discuss the methods and protocols required to engage people participation as an entry point to develop a qualitative modeling. A series of observation and interviews has been conducted to undertake the study.  The research target were beef farmers in Kabupaten Banjarnegara.  The study was initiated by undertaking separated preliminary discussion with beef farmers.  This step was aimed to engage farmers’ participation as well as harnessing their everyday activities related to beef farming and marketing.  Then, second discussion was undertaken to identify potential problematic situations i.e. situation considered as uncomfortable.  This was conducted by identify the activities, resources, and pressures of the systems. As a result, a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) was generated describing the beef farming systems.  The behavior underneath these CLD was then further discussed to analyze as an effort to tame the complexity of beef farming.