In production systems, operational decisions to overcome constraints and achieve optimal efficiency often follow a one-way sequential rationale which may be efficient in the short term but could generate unintended iterations throughout the system in the long term. This study analyzes farmers’ granular decisions in agriculture operations management; and applies a system thinking causal loop diagram to situate how operational decisions are detrimental to farmers’ livelihoods in the case of Kambara in Northern Benin. Regional reports on cotton yield had shown an increase of 265% while poverty rates also increased, thereby challenging the general literature on positive correlations between agriculture operations efficiency, high yield, and poverty reduction. This empirical study investigates why poverty remained high among smallholders despite the higher aggregate cotton yields. The research revealed supply chain finance issues among cash-strapped smallholder farmers leading to the adoption of a cash-efficient 'dual-cropping' interdependent practice between cotton and corn to overcome system constraints. Although farmers demonstrated technical and input allocation efficiency, the practice represents a one-way sequential thinking that generates unintended system iterations like selling crops at below market rate, lower yield per crop, and further farmer indebtedness, thereby creating a systemic feedback loop trapping the smallholder farmers into poverty.
