The Optimization of Crop Production: A Case Study at the Farming Unit of UiTM Perlis

Abstract

Managing resources efficiently is essential in order to minimize the cost of operation of a company which produces products or services. In agriculture, farmers also need to allocate their resources such as land, labour hours, machinery and seedlings to avoid wastage. However, most farmers lack the knowledge on practical methods to allocate their resources. In this study, the linear programming approach was employed as a means to allocate the area of land for rubber, calamansi, harumanis and kelapa matag. This study also aimed to determine an optimal combination of crops among the selected crops that can maximize the annual revenue. The result was then compared with the traditional method. There were nine constraints of resources involved such as land, labour hours, machinery, pesticides, solid and liquid fertilizers, solid and liquid insecticides and seedlings. Based on the results, the best allocation was 11.34 and 11.51 acres of land for rubber and harumanis, respectively. However, calamansi and kelapa matag do not contribute high revenue and should be omitted from the system. The annual revenue obtained using the linear programming method also increased by 5% compared to the traditional method. Hence, the linear programming method proved to be the best method to allocate the limited resources in agriculture in order to maximize the revenue.