A Mathematical Approach to Optimize Crop Allocation – A Linear Programming Model

Agriculture plays a significant role in the social and economic development of a country. To get optimum farm outputs; decisions such as crop allocation, crop combinations, operational activities performed for crop production are very crucial. All these factors are needed to optimize in each growing season. Proper farm planning and resource allocation play a significant role in optimizing farm revenues. Thus, the study is carried out to analyze the cropping pattern in different districts of Rajasthan. The survey is conducted, to get an insight about the difficulties faced by the growers in each season. It is observed that the farmers in a region often practice crop rotation to enhance the farm output. The Linear programming approach is an effective tool to determine optimal crop combinations and feasibility of decision variables. Thus, a Linear Programming approach is used to determine the solution of the proposed farm model. The results of the mathematical model formulated show an increase in farm output by adopting optimized cropping pattern. The proposed model provides an alternative so as to maximize farm revenues. LINGO 18.0 Software is used to analyze the result of Linear Programming Model. To establish the crop preference WSM is applied to the model.