A Varied-Utilized Soil Type in Linear Programming Model for Irrigation Planning

Abstract

Problem statement: Optimal crop pattern with maximum profit is important information for irrigation planning using optimization model. Crop yield, crop water requirement, man power, production cost and physical soil type are required to the search model. A consideration varied-utilized soil type directly influences to the profit of obtained crop pattern. Approach: The objective of this study is to find an optimal crop pattern for irrigation planning in a varied-utilized area of the Van Vieng Phi irrigation project, Khammouan province, Central Region of Lao PDR. An allocation Linear Programming (LP) model was applied to find the optimal crop pattern in dry-season (NovemberApril). The considered irrigation project was divided into several sub-areas, based on suitable soil type of each crop representing the varied-utilized character. The existing suitable soil type of each crop was used to represent the varied-utilized in term of water requirement and crop yield for each sub-area. The records of seasonal flow from pump station, requested and actual implementation of irrigation area, crop water requirements, evaporation, percolation and effective rainfall were used for this illustrative application. Results: The results have shown that the net benefit of varied-utilized character and unvaried-utilized character (existing consideration) were obvious difference. The obtained crop pattern of the proposed model corresponded to the suitable soil type for cultivation crops. Furthermore, the results presented that the proposed model gave higher net benefit than the existing unvaried-utilized character. Conclusions/Recommendations: The consideration several sub-areas of irrigation project based on suitable soil type in LP model can be represented the varied-utilized character. The proposed LP model is appropriately for finding the optimal crop pattern for irrigation planning.