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Title: | Production Targets and Input Usage in the Agricultural Development Projects in Liberia (1978-1983): A Linear Programming Solution |
Author: | Pereira-Lunghu, Jacob M. |
Year: | 1989 |
Periodical: | Liberian Studies Journal |
Volume: | 14 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 91-105 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Liberia |
Subjects: | agricultural projects agriculture Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Development and Technology |
Abstract: | In an effort to boost rice production in Liberia, the Ministry of Agriculture has set up a seed production project known as the Smallholder Rice Seed Project (SRSP). The objective of this project is to produce, process, pack, store and distribute recommended seed varieties to the Liberian smallholder farmers. Inputs such as fertilizer and chemicals are all bought in bulk, without being properly integrated into a general plan of production, which has resulted in a heavy, unexpected, waste of unused fertilizer and chemicals at the end of every production period. In order to solve this resource allocation problem, this paper shows how rice production targets in this context could be incorporated into a standard linear programming problem where the basic constraints are in the form of inputs used in production. Initially, a model is developed whose objective function is to be optimized subject to a given set of input constraints (such as fertilizer, chemicals and other inputs) and production targets. The model is then iteratively solved and the results are presented. Policy implications include a shift of emphasis from fertilizer use to policies that would encourage more use of land and labour; land colonization, immigration, and resettlement on large irrigation schemes; and land reform. App., bibliogr., notes, ref. |