Track: Operations Research

Abstract

According to the United Nations report, the world population is estimated to be 9.6 billion people by 2050. As a result, there must be an increase in food production by 70 % to meet the world’s growing demand. Food supply chains expand from agriculture activities, production, transportation to consumption. The efficient management of agricultural activities is indispensable to secure food production. The main challenges faced in this respect are the limited availability of natural resources (land and water). In this study, we applied an integer linear programming model to solve the crop planning problem in a small farm while considering limited water availability. The crop planning model relies on the delineation of rectangular management zones to identify the optimum crop pattern based on the physical and chemical properties of the land. The model has been applied to a small farm in Egypt. The results help the decision- maker in identifying the optimum crop pattern for maximum profit and also to decide on economic feasibility of different irrigation system