Integrating a multiple crop year routing design for sugarcane harvesters to plant a new crop

Abstract

This paper discusses the integration of a multiple crop year routing design for a sugarcane harvester and planning of the planting of a new crop. A multiple crop year routing design (i.e., a three year harvesting plan) for a sugarcane crop was formulated and solved by the use of heuristics based on a VRPTW mathematical model (HVRPTW) and a dynamic programming algorithm (HDPA). The three-year harvesting period was determined from the number of years that sugarcane can normally be harvested after a crop is planted in Thailand (one planted crop and two ratoons). The model solution consisted of the harvesting sequence, the harvesters’ travelling routes, the harvest starting time and the number of harvesters required. The results of two methods were compared with respect to the maximum profit and computational time. The results showed that solving the problem using HDPA reduced the maximum profit by only 0.28% on average from the solution provided HVRPTW, and the average computational time was also reduced dramatically. The multiple crop year routing design was integrated with the planting of a new crop to ensure that it contained an ideal solution for the 3rd year plan so it would be effective for all three years. We recommend that the growers use a sugarcane cultivar with a similar maturation time in all of the fields that shared the same harvester’s route to maintain the ideal routes. Furthermore, the same agricultural practices must be applied to all of the sugarcane crops, such as the planting method, cultivar and fertilization.