Abstract:
Sustainable development is the management and conservation of the basic natural resources through which organizational and technological changes are led to meet the present and future needs of humans. In developing and analyzing the solutions based on sustainable development principles a holistic approach needs to be adopted system dynamics has a vital tool for systemic analysis, and also it is an appropriate approach for perceiving problems and offering solutions. The aim of this study is to present a system dynamics model to analyze the existent dynamics in the value chain of the tomato industry. To achieve the mathematical equations and values of the model’s variables, a simulation is carried out using the data gathered from the Mecha district, Amhara region, Ethiopia. The parameters of the model are selected and calculated considering the specifications of this case study. After modeling the system, Vensim simulation software has been employed, to measure the performance and to identify the leverage points of the model to improve the system; then, a set of scenarios have been proposed and tested through simulation to achieve an improved understanding of the system’s dynamic behavior. Based on the scenario simulation result the model highlight the importance of direct tomato sell and the establishment of a fresh tomato market center to improve tomato producers’ access to the market, increasing producers’ profits and reducing post-harvest loss.