An Optimization Model for an Intercropping Planning System

Traditionally, single cropping culture is widely adopted owing to uniformly growing requirements and habits. Unfortunately, the culture causes a surplus of crops, which leads to a depression of crop prices. Intercropping is an approach to reduce the risk of crop prices. This paper proposes an optimization model for intercropping planning in order to maximize total income while minimize the risk. Several cultivating factors have been investigated and applied to construct the proposed model. The model was evaluated by comparing with a linear programming method. The experimental results revealed that the linear programming method provided the highest income; but it could not accomplish in the risk minimization. On the other hand, the proposed model could minimize the risk and also obtained at least 74% when compared with the linear programming method.