Optimization of Crop Harvesting Schedules and Land Allocation Through Linear Programming

Food security is a major global challenge due to population growth, resource constraints, and the threat of climate change. In addition, the agricultural sector offers low profitability for the farmers that plant and harvest the crops. The net worth of a region’s agricultural output depends on the constant fluctuations of farmgate prices and costs associated with planting and harvesting. In order to maximize the profit and crop value of an area, it follows that production should be profit-oriented and ensure harvest and selling when prices are high. To optimize this scheduling problem, mathematical problems are discussed. In this study, a linear programming model is designed to identify profitable seasons for harvesting crops to aid in the scheduling of farmers and agricultural offices. To demonstrate, a case study on the rice and maize output of the Philippines’ Cagayan Region is conducted, as the region is a major producer of these two crops. The resulting solution translates to a 13.8% increase in the region’s profitability. With the flexible structure of the developed model, researchers and agricultural planners can identify optimal harvesting strategies for any location.