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McKinsey Medium Profitability Policy/Public Sector

Banana Heaven

#Non-profit #Agriculture

Practice this intermediate profitability case interview question from McKinsey in the Non-profit sector. Includes detailed problem prompt, clarifying questions, structured framework, and expert recommendation. Part of ProHub's 835+ consulting case library.

ProHub Comment

This case requires candidates to apply business profitability frameworks to public sector policy challenges, specifically recognizing the role of externalities (groundwater depletion) and the need for government intervention through subsidies. The case tests both quantitative analysis (comparing crop profitability) and qualitative thinking about scaling and implementation challenges in a resource-constrained agricultural economy.

Estimated Time 26 minutes
Difficulty Medium
Source ROSS
61 / 100
The government of Banana Heaven (an island in the Indian ocean) is predominantly an agricultural economy. Majority of the population is involved in the farming of paddy (rice). Once grown on the farm, paddy is then bought by the government at a predefined price called as the Minimum Selling Price (MSP). Banana haven is going through a crisis of depleting groundwater (water that is used for agriculture). Since paddy uses a lot of water in its cultivation stage, the water level is reducing by ~ 50 feet every year. This is a major cause of concern on the island and the government is planning to introduce a crop diversification program as a pilot to incentivize farmers to shift from paddy to other crops that use less groundwater. What should be the government’s plan of action to conduct a successful pilot and replicate the program in the whole island nation?

Clarifying Information

  1. The government does not have a specific goal in mind, just want to reduce the general water usage in the country.
  2. Currently, only a small portion of the farmers are growing crops other than paddy in Banana Haven.
  3. The country is not capable of moving into another economic structure.
  4. The farmers will sell the paddy to the government at a fixed price, and the government will sell them both domestically and for export.
Mock Interview
Interviewer

The government of Banana Heaven (an island in the Indian ocean) is predominantly an agricultural economy. Majority of the population is involved in the farming of paddy (rice). Once grown on the farm, paddy is then bought by the government at a predefined price called as the Minimum Selling Price (MSP). Banana haven is going through a crisis of depleting groundwater (water that is used for agriculture). Since paddy uses a lot of water in its cultivation stage, the water level is reducing by ~ 50 feet every year. This is a major cause of concern on the island and the government is planning to introduce a crop diversification program as a pilot to incentivize farmers to shift from paddy to other crops that use less groundwater. What should be the government's plan of action to conduct a successful pilot and replicate the program in the whole island nation?

You

Thanks. Before analyzing, I'd like to clarify a few key questions...

Interviewer

Good question. Let me provide some background information...

You

Based on this, I suggest analyzing from these dimensions...

AI Score
Structure Analysis Communication Business Sense Quantitative
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Practice this case with AI Mock Interview

Banana Heaven faces critical groundwater depletion from paddy farming. The government seeks to pilot a crop diversification program to shift farmers to less water-intensive alternatives. Candidates must determine which alternative crop (maize or pulse) to promote, calculate required subsidies to maintain farmer incomes, and develop a scaling strategy.

Key Insights:

  1. Economic viability is critical: farmers will only adopt alternatives if subsidies ensure they earn equal or greater income than paddy farming
  2. Externalities matter in public sector cases: the real cost to government includes both the profit gap ($150/acre × 1k farmers × 500 acres = $75M annually) plus implementation and scaling expenses
  3. Supply and demand must be balanced during scaling: securing market demand (exports, domestic use, industrial applications) is as important as farmer adoption and technical support
  4. External factors like soil/climate suitability and rice dependency directly impact the viability of alternatives and must be stress-tested

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