A decision support system for crop planning and equipment selection | |
| Author | Chandraratne, I. W. D. T. |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.AE-93-6 |
| Subject(s) | Decision support systems Agricultural machinery |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. AE-93-6 |
| Abstract | Stand-alone executable computer software has been developed for the purpose of crop planning and equipment selection in crop production based on the farming situation in Sri Lanka using FoxPro 2.0 Command Language. The program extracts the comprehensive information about the farming situation from three data files: firs t , general socio-economic factors, second, the commonly grown crops in the region and associated inputs and outputs with their operation calendars and third, all the equipment available to perform these operations with necessary details. All these data can be checked or edited by the user. In addition, the user can add or remove the records to/from these two databases when it necessitates modifications usually coming with time. The software first suggests the most profitable crop-area combination within the availability of total land, monthly la bor, seasonal operating capital and seasonal water s upply which are specified by the user. Using the resulting crop plan as the input or a user-defined input, it predicts the optimum power syst em feasible to the situation and the best combinations of human, animal- and power-driven equipment for various operations. Finally, based on the selected main power system, it produces a report which includes total output, cost and profit in annual, seasonal and per unit crop area bases. Also, it gives the equipment system for all operations and monthly labor demand for all the farming activities. This computer program is developed with special attention to Sri Lankan situation. Therefore, it necessitates initial modifications to use in another environment. The program was evaluated with two farms in Sri Lanka having 1.0 ha and 2.0 ha holding sizes with canal irrigation syst em and a hypothetical farm using water pump. Sensitivity of the price yield of rice which is the staple crop was also examined to see how the optimum crop plan is effected by t he typical variation of these two parameters. The optimum equipment system was not effect ed by fluctuations of yield and prices since optimization is being done based on the least cost system. Results of the program are close to how farmers are operating in the real situation. The optimal recommendations for the equipment systems for the farmer operating in 2.0 ha farm show slight deviation from what the farmer currently owns since the program considers only farm a rea owned by the farmer excluding custom area. Moreover, the break-even hours and area for all the equipment used in custom hiring are provided in the report. |
| Year | 1993 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. AE-93-6 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Singh, Gajendra |
| Examination Committee(s) | Clough, David Gee;Gupta, Chandra P.;Salokhe, Vilas M. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Japanese Government. |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1993 |