Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments
The search for sustainable agriculture is leading many economies to turn to crop rotation systems and to abandon monoculture systems which generally require increased use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. But the optimization of crop rotation remains a challenge, especially when considering o...
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MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/6775 |
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| author | Jean Louis Ebongue Kedieng Fendji Clovis Tchuinte Kenmogne David Jaurès Fotsa-Mbogne Anna Förster |
| author_facet | Jean Louis Ebongue Kedieng Fendji Clovis Tchuinte Kenmogne David Jaurès Fotsa-Mbogne Anna Förster |
| author_sort | Jean Louis Ebongue Kedieng Fendji |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The search for sustainable agriculture is leading many economies to turn to crop rotation systems and to abandon monoculture systems which generally require increased use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. But the optimization of crop rotation remains a challenge, especially when considering organic farming. This work tackles the optimization of crop rotation in traditional organic farms with plot adjacency constraints and nutrient amendments. In the present configuration, each farmer owns a certain quantity of rudimentary equipment and a number of workers, all considered as resources. Farms are subdivided into plots and each plot allows only one crop at a given period. At a given interval of time, each plot receives a certain quantity of nutrient. The generated rotations are of fixed durations for all plots and the objective is to maximize farmers’ income. A linear programming approach is used to determine the solution of the proposed farming model. Three levels of constraints are combined in the linear program to generate realistic rotations: (i) biophysical constraints including crop succession and plot adjacency; (ii) structural constraints including budget and resources; (iii) organizational constraints such as nutrient amendment and market demand. To evaluate the performance of the model, scenarios based on real-world data has been defined and solved using free solvers. The solutions obtained indicate that all the constrains are satisfied. In addition, farmers’ revenue is improved, reaching a stationary position when the quantity of available resources is equal or greater than the quantity of required resources. Finally, Cbc solver is faster than GLPK solver; and it provides solutions on larger instances where GLPK does not. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:19:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-079d20ad5ae74cc2ad5eab4c469ae7db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:19:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-079d20ad5ae74cc2ad5eab4c469ae7db2023-11-22T05:19:25ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-07-011115677510.3390/app11156775Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient AmendmentsJean Louis Ebongue Kedieng Fendji0Clovis Tchuinte Kenmogne1David Jaurès Fotsa-Mbogne2Anna Förster3Department of Computer Engineering, University Institute of Technology, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere P.O. Box 454, CameroonDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Science, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere P.O. Box 454, CameroonDepartment of Mathematics and Computer Science, National School of Agro-Industrial Sciences, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere P.O. Box 455, CameroonSustainable Communication Networks, University of Bremen, 28359 Bremen, GermanyThe search for sustainable agriculture is leading many economies to turn to crop rotation systems and to abandon monoculture systems which generally require increased use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. But the optimization of crop rotation remains a challenge, especially when considering organic farming. This work tackles the optimization of crop rotation in traditional organic farms with plot adjacency constraints and nutrient amendments. In the present configuration, each farmer owns a certain quantity of rudimentary equipment and a number of workers, all considered as resources. Farms are subdivided into plots and each plot allows only one crop at a given period. At a given interval of time, each plot receives a certain quantity of nutrient. The generated rotations are of fixed durations for all plots and the objective is to maximize farmers’ income. A linear programming approach is used to determine the solution of the proposed farming model. Three levels of constraints are combined in the linear program to generate realistic rotations: (i) biophysical constraints including crop succession and plot adjacency; (ii) structural constraints including budget and resources; (iii) organizational constraints such as nutrient amendment and market demand. To evaluate the performance of the model, scenarios based on real-world data has been defined and solved using free solvers. The solutions obtained indicate that all the constrains are satisfied. In addition, farmers’ revenue is improved, reaching a stationary position when the quantity of available resources is equal or greater than the quantity of required resources. Finally, Cbc solver is faster than GLPK solver; and it provides solutions on larger instances where GLPK does not.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/6775crop rotationorganic farmingadjacency constraintsnutrient amendmentinteger linear programming |
| spellingShingle | Jean Louis Ebongue Kedieng Fendji Clovis Tchuinte Kenmogne David Jaurès Fotsa-Mbogne Anna Förster Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments Applied Sciences crop rotation organic farming adjacency constraints nutrient amendment integer linear programming |
| title | Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments |
| title_full | Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments |
| title_fullStr | Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments |
| title_short | Improving Farmers’ Revenue in Crop Rotation Systems with Plot Adjacency Constraints in Organic Farms with Nutrient Amendments |
| title_sort | improving farmers revenue in crop rotation systems with plot adjacency constraints in organic farms with nutrient amendments |
| topic | crop rotation organic farming adjacency constraints nutrient amendment integer linear programming |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/15/6775 |
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