OPTIMIZATION OF PLANTING AREA FOR BROCCOLI, CABBAGE AND SQUASH IN THREE FARMS, CARTAGO, COSTA RICA

The annual per capita consumption of vegetables in Costa Rica increased 14 kilograms from 2002 to 2015, because of the adoption of low-calorie diets with high vitamin and nutritional intake. To supply the requirements of the population, it is necessary to develop models that optimize the use of productive resources. For this reason, the objective of this research is to develop a model to optimize the production area of broccoli, cabbage, and squash in three farms in Cartago, Costa Rica. Data were collected in the field during 2021 and the optimization model was solved by linear programming to maximize the profitability of each farm. The results showed that it is possible to make an efficient use of the available land maximizing the farmers' profit, although water and area limitations prevent covering all the market demand. It is concluded that farmers improve their business decisions based on models that optimize limited resources.