The Moral Economy of Palm Sugar: Sustaining Livelihoods in Madurese MSMEs Beyond Profit Rationality
Downloads
The study aimed to investigate the unique economic rationality of Madurese palm sugar Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), despite marginal financial returns and the absence of formal cost accounting based on Polanyi’s Substantive Economic Theory and Scott’s Moral Economy. We were examined as MSME operators using a phenomenological method. The results showed that economic decisions were deeply embedded in social relations, driven by a sense of responsibility toward food security and cultural heritage rather than capital accumulation. Palm sugar was conceptualized as a life-sustaining asset, linking subsistence to social reproduction within household-based MSMEs. The disregard for formal cost calculations came from the utilization of internal reciprocal inputs and the "safety-first" principle, which were characteristic of moral economies. This study challenged profit-centric agricultural views, offering policy insights to support resilient traditional production by recognizing diverse economic rationales and the specific needs of agricultural processing MSMEs.
Downloads
Adloff, F. (2025). Rethinking nature’s values: Methodological animism, gifts and rights of nature. Ecosystems and People, 21(1), Article 2464014. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2025.2464014
Aggarwal, S., Giera, B., Jeong, D., Robinson, J., & Spearot, A. (2024). Market access, trade costs, and technology adoption: Evidence from Northern Tanzania. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 106(6), 1511–1528. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01263
Alamad, S. (2024). Rethinking economics, constructing the equitable optimality theory, part one: Philosophical underpinning. In Beyond profit: The humanisation of economics through the theory of equitable optimality (pp. 229–264). Springer.
Alrhmoun, M., Sulaiman, N., Mattalia, G., Ahmed, H. M., Khatib, C., Cantürk, Y. Y., Zucca, G., Ammam, A., Ahmad, M., & Pieroni, A. (2025). Ethnoecology of desert truffles hunting: A cross-cultural comparative study on practices and perceptions in the Mediterranean and the Near East. Journal of Arid Environments, 229, Article 105367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2025.105367
Bacter, R. V., Gherdan, A. E. M., Ciolac, R., Bacter, D. P., Dodu, M. A., Casau-Crainic, M. S., Gavra, C., Pereș, A. C., Ungureanu, A., & Czirják, T.-Z. (2025). From heritage to modern economy: Quantitative surveys and ethnographic insights on the sustainability of traditional Bihor products. Agriculture, 15(13), Article 1404. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15131404
Berkhout, E., Sovová, L., & Sonneveld, A. (2023). The role of urban–rural connections in building food system resilience. Sustainability, 15(3), Article 1818. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15031818
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2025). Reporting guidelines for qualitative research: A values-based approach. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 22(2), 399–438. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2024.2382244
Chai, N., Abedin, M. Z., Yang, L., & Shi, B. (2025). Farmers’ credit risk evaluation with an explainable hybrid ensemble approach: A closer look at microfinance. Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 89, Article 102612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacfin.2024.102612
Chao, K. (2024). Family farming in climate change: Strategies for resilient and sustainable food systems. Heliyon, 10(7), Article e28599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28599
Forte Taylor, R. C., Clark, O. G., & Malard-Adam, J. J. (2025). A qualitative framework to identify variables influencing ecological sustainability in tropical small-scale agriculture. Environmental Development, 55, Article 101180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2025.101180
Gardette, J., Delhaye, E., & Bastin, C. (2025). The multiple dimensions of familiarity: From representations to phenomenology. WIREs Cognitive Science, 16(1), Article e1698. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1698
Green, W. N., & Baird, I. G. (2024). Financialization and rural development: Comparing credit systems in Thailand and Cambodia. South East Asia Research, 32(2), 196–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/0967828X.2024.2331454
Iqbal, B., Alabbosh, K. F., Jalal, A., Suboktagin, S., & Elboughdiri, N. (2025). Sustainable food systems transformation in the face of climate change: Strategies, challenges, and policy implications. Food Science and Biotechnology, 34(4), 871–883. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-024-01712-y
John, D., Hussin, N., Shahibi, M. S., Ahmad, M., Hashim, H., & Ametefe, D. S. (2023). A systematic review on the factors governing precision agriculture adoption among small-scale farmers. Outlook on Agriculture, 52(4), 469–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270231205640
Kristina, A., & Jumali, M. A. (2024). Be careful! Justification of work safety culture for elderly siwalan farmers. BIO Web of Conferences, 146, Article 01028. https://doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/202414601028
Kristina, A., & Jumali, M. A. (2025). Productivity of siwalan farmers in Madura (past and now): A demographic analysis. KnE Social Sciences, 10(5), 61–71. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v10i5.18099
Kristina, A., Jumali, M. A., & Kamsin, K. B. (2025). At the nexus of work and togetherness: Family agriculture in Madura, Indonesia. Simulacra, 8(1), 49–62. https://doi.org/10.21107/sml.v8i1.28712
Liang, X., Rehman, S. U., & Zhiqi, W. (2025). Impacts of conservation tillage on agricultural land development: A review. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 25(1), 428–449. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-024-02142-9
Luz, M. R. S., Compagnoli, R. V., & Fernandez, R. G. (2024). Socialism, fascism, and neoliberalism: Karl Polanyi’s institutionalism and the democratic question in the XXI century. Real-World Economics Review, 108, 83–102. https://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue108/Souza108.pdf
Ma, W., Rahut, D. B., Sonobe, T., & Gong, B. (2024). Linking farmers to markets: Barriers, solutions, and policy options. Economic Analysis and Policy, 82, 1102–1112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eap.2024.05.005
Madonsela, B. S., & Machete, M. (2025). A systematic review of indigenous knowledge in global contexts. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 19(2), 71–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15595692.2023.2249565
Mzimela, J. H., & Moyo, I. (2025). An intersectional analysis of the collective efficacy–drought adaptation nexus among small-scale farmers in uMkhanyakude District Municipality, South Africa. Environmental Sociology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2025.2484480
Nigbur, D., & Chatfield, S. L. (2025). Naming themes in interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): Recommendations and examples. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24, Article 16094069241312792. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241312792
Nunes, W. (2025). The moral economy of violence: An analytical and conceptual discussion. In Dilemma in politics (pp. 75–99). Routledge India.
Pandiselvam, R., Sreeranjini, K., Kothakota, A., & Ramesh, S. (2025). Farm to fork applications: How vibrational spectroscopy can be used along the whole value chain? Critical Reviews in Biotechnology, 45(4), 938–981. https://doi.org/10.1080/07388551.2024.2409124
Perchard, A., MacKenzie, N. G., & Matsangou, G. (2025). Moral economy at the crossroads of history and social science: Finding customs in common? Economic and Industrial Democracy, 46(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/0143831X241307418
Pietsch, D. (2025). A journey through economics: On prosperity, digitalization, and justice. Springer Nature.
Rock, K., Klerkx, L., & Finger, R. (2025). Agricultural startups’ visions of a sustainable agri-food future: A comparative case study in rural and urban Germany. Agriculture and Human Values, 42, 2033–2053. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-025-10750-z
Sakamoto, M. (2024). The role of social capital in community development: Insights from behavioral game theory and social network analysis. Sustainable Development, 32(5), 5240–5258. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2961
Snower, D. J., & Wilson, D. S. (2025). Rethinking the theoretical foundation of economics II: Core themes of the multilevel paradigm. Economics, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/econ-2025-0133
Tjarks, D. (2025). Great urban transformations: Exploring ‘offensive countermovements’ in Polanyi’s instituted economy. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/23996544251349300
Valentinov, V., Ilieva-Koleva, D., & Hristov, H. (2025). Corporate environmental sustainability via stakeholder collaboration: Insights from classical institutional economics. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-025-06023-8
Zhang, J., Wang, Y., & Liu, X. (2025). Co-constructing cooperative value ecosystems: A critical realist perspective. Information Systems Journal, 35(2), 504–544. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12549
Zoelner, M. (2025). Working empirically across paradigms in cross-cultural management: The sequential strategy for interpretive and critical methodologies. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 25(2), 315–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/14705958251319663
Copyright (c) 2026 Anita kristina, Muhamad Abdul Jumali
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
