Consistent with the inter-linked ‘farm’ and ‘household’ input and output dependencies illustrated in Fig. 1, the economic model is constructed around a wide array of activities that may be undertaken by the household. These include crop, forage, livestock, off-farm and non-farm activities that are linked systemically through four resource pools that the activities can either draw on or contribute to: (a) labour including both household members and access to additional casual labour – by functional category and season, (b) land by type and quality, (c) forage by type and seasonal availability, including crop residues, and (d) cash reserves and credit – i.e. working capital to support production and consumption activities. By including all of the activities that are available to, or necessary for, the household to meet its needs and objectives, the model is able to provide an accurate guide to whether exploiting different crop and forage options will actually make the household better or worse off.