optimizing vacant land for crop production using

Journal of Business and Social Development Volume 2 Number 1, March 2014: 1-13

ISSN: 2289-2915 © Penerbit UMT

OPTIMIZING VACANT LAND FOR CROP PRODUCTION USING LINEAR PROGRAMMING

(MENGOPTIMUMKAN TANAH TERBIAR BAGI PENGELUARAN TANAMAN MENGGUNAKAN KAEDAH PENGATURCARAAN LINEAR) NIK HASHIM NIK MUSTAPHA1*, NIK MOHD HAZRUL HASHIM2 AND FAUZIAH ABU HASSAN1 Department of Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics University of Malaysia Terengganu Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, 2Graduate School of Business National University of Malaysia Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia. 1

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract: This study aspires to unveil the economic potential of vacant land around the city which is cultivated with a combination of cash crops; vegetables and fruits. Energetic youths with enterprising minds are motivated to the agricultural business. Linear programming is employed to derive optimal solution for a combined crop harvest. The return from crop combination of corn, cucumber, eggplant, and carrot grossed at MYR61, 984. If land can be further increased because of the availability of vacant land while financial capital can be borrowed from the state authority or agriculture bank, cash returns for these farms can be raised to MYR81,581 per year. Sensitivity analysis on the corn price as an important crop shows that a fall in the corn price from MYR5,700 to MYR5,400 per metric ton, farm’s income will be reduced to MYR59,734. These products were grown primarily for local markets and sold as wholesale within the state. The demand for them is mainly assured and can be transported to nearby towns. The major drawback of this selfmotivated project is the South China Sea monsoon which often brings unpredictable rains and floods that could damage the crops KEYWORDS: Vacant land, linear programming, crops combination, optimal solution, primal, dual problem. Abstrak: Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mendedahkan keupayaan ekonomi tanah terbiar di kawasan bandar yang ditanam dengan gabungan tanaman tunai iaitu sayur-sayuran dan buah-buahan. Pengaturcaraan linear diguna pakai dalam menghasilkan gabungan tanaman optimum. Pulangan daripada gabungan jagung, timun batang, terung dan lobak merah bernilai RM61,984. Dengan keluasan yang lebih besar dan sebagai contoh; menggunakan tanah terbiar; tambahan suntikan modal kewangan oleh kerajaan negeri atau bank pertanian boleh meningkat kepada RM81,581.00 setahun. Analisis kesensitifan terhadap harga jagung menunjukkan jika kejatuhan harga berlaku daripada RM5,700 kepada RM5,400 satu tan metrik, pendapatan akan jatuh sehingga RM59,734. Sayur-sayuran dan buah-buahan tersebut diusahakan bagi memenuhi permintaan pasaran tempatan dan dijual secara borongan dalam negeri. Permintaan terhadap hasil tanaman ini sentiasa terjamin dan boleh dieksport ke bandar berdekatan. Halangan utama projek ini adalah musim tengkujuh Laut China Selatan yang kerapkali membawa hujan dan banjir yang tidak dapat diramal serta mengakibatkan kemusnahan tanaman. KATA KUNCI: Tanah terbiar, pengaturcaraan linear, gabungan tanaman, penyelesaian optimum, primal dan masalah dual.

Journal of Business and Social Development Volume 2(1) 2014: 1-13

1. Optimizing Vacant.indd 1

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Nik Hashim Nik Mustapha et al.

Introduction The issue of vacant agricultural land was first recognized and linked to absentee landlords who failed to cultivate the land they owned. The Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA) was then created to consolidate land for the purpose of utilization. Despite government intervention the problem continues to persist even today. The issue related to vacant land is obviously more than the absentee landlords. Investment in land is somewhat thriving because it generates income and wealth to the owners. Strategic land located in the city is highly demanded for various economic opportunities. It can be developed for shopping centers, housing estates and industrial sites. Urbanization and industrialization have forced land price to continuously and sharply increase. Land as a resource is used for producing goods and services while it can serve as the storage buildings such as the warehouse. The agricultural land can be utilized for the production of fruits and vegetables. Because of these multifunctional uses; for the production, ownership and accumulation of wealth, land is always in demand for fulfilling numerous economic goals of the investors and speculators. Vacant land will continue to exist since investors in land are not the same person as cultivators and speculators. Nevertheless, this phenomenon has provided opportunity for those who wish to rent land for the cultivation of crops. Vacant land is defined by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) as uncultivable agriculture inland or farms of 0.4 hectare minimum with contiguous or dispersed ownerships, left unattended for three years and above consecutively. Based on this definition a total of 531.8 thousand hectares were classified as vacant lands in 2009. By 2012 through concerted effort this total figure had been reduced and remained at 97.3 thousand hectares. Of this total, 29.2 thousand hectares were located in Peninsular Malaysia and the rest 68.0 thousand hectares are found in Sabah and Sarawak [DOA, 2009]. Statistics of vacant land and farm area in Peninsular Malaysia 2012 show that the state of Pahang (6,522 ha), Johor (5,884 ha) and

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Kelantan (5,494 ha) had the highest hectares of vacant land while in Terengganu the vacant farm land accounted for 874 hectares. Sabah and Sarawak exhibit much more vacant lands than any state in Peninsular Malaysia. In 2012, the Department of Agriculture statistics show that about 8,110.9 hectares of land were reported as vacant while in Sarawak the figure was extremely large amounting to 59,959.6 hectares [DOA, 2012]. Background This cash crop farming is an on-going project initiated by local residents with limited capacities of mechanization and minimum assistance from the State Agriculture Department. The project started on agricultural land which is left unattended and unproductive by self-motivated community of individuals. They have rented the uncultivated parcels of land, cleared, leveled, and turned them into agricultural projects, growing prospective short term vegetables and fruits. These young entrepreneurs are selftrained farmers motivated by the hard-working neighboring Indonesian farmers. The community projects such as these are needed for several reasons. First, these entrepreneurs are local residents who started the projects with limited assets and mechanization. Assistance from the related agencies dealing with agriculture production and marketing is deemed necessary from extension facilities to enable them to operate efficiently. Second, their concerted effort is economically useful as they contribute to direct uplifting of the agricultural production, the income levels of the poor and the unemployed vegetable and fruit farmers. In contrast, they attempt to raise the income level of the agricultural earners to be at par with the nonagricultural sectors of the economy. Third, this category of agricultural growers has not been exposed to direct assistance from any government agency and yet they could sustain the market competition. The Ministry of Higher Education had launched a project named as, “the knowledge transfer program (KTP)” to coordinate



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and disburse new findings to the potential entrepreneurs. The program would greatly benefit those new generations of farmers in realizing the production and marketing potentials through cooperation, advice and consultancy with various agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DOA), the Federal Agricultural and Marketing Authority (FAMA), State Economic Planning Unit (SEPU), Entrepreneurship Development Agency (YPU), and the Malaysia Agricultural and Development Institute (MARDI) that have practical experience in research on crops, pests and diseases and husbandry practices. The research teams from local universities which include Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) were asked to put up proposals. These institutions of higher learning will be the liaison for the successful implementation of the project. Their function is to orchestrate and bring the transfer of technology while enriching their human skills to the selected community project leaders and workers. For a start, this knowledge transfer program focused on existing vegetables and fruits growers and their particulars are shown in Table 1. Major drawbacks of these short term projects during the last season was the flood which occurred twice in December to February and in March due to the uncertainty of the heavy rains probably following the outbreak of the tsunami in Japan. During the months of December to February which coincide with the rainy season of East Coast Peninsular Malaysia exposure to the South China Sea wet weather conditions, growing operations are temporarily laid off. For the rest of the year each crop will be planted accordingly (normally two crops are selected per crop season, that is 4 acres for carrot, 3 acres for cucumber) depending on market demand as reflected in the fluctuation of farm prices. Other shortcomings encountered are in irrigation which relies on nearby tributary, land preparation and the actual planting activity because these essential farm operations are done manually. Improvement to the existing farm practices would help them greatly in expanding

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the size and management of farm operations, in particular, with the sprinkler irrigation system, mechanization of land preparation and other form of farm operations that save time and mandays. Pests and diseases are currently under controlled but with the increase in size of crops’ area this may constitute a problem. Special attention should be given if this project becomes a scale production, particularly between chemical application and need to maintain clean environment. The need to learn from farm and marketing practices of the advanced countries through visits and experiences can be invaluable investment in human development for the modern farming system. Marketing of crop harvests is carried out by the growers themselves with hired vans directly to the wholesale market and/or directly to wet market in Kuala Terengganu. In other words, selling of their farm products is done without the involvement of market intermediaries. These middlemen functions are nevertheless useful they usually bought farm products at very cheap prices. The growers admitted that by avoiding the intermediaries they save paying extra cost in shipment and selling their products at relatively low price to the middlemen, thus able to earn higher returns from the sales of their harvests. Literature Review Agricultural policy on food supply emphasizes the need to persistently review essential food crops self sufficiency level. The concern is escalating over the climate change that could cause food shortage. As a result of this awareness the National Economic Council had decided to fix self-sufficiency level for rice at 70 percent for the next 10 years [Borneo Post Online, 2011]. This scenario has shed light on the prospective contribution of the agricultural sector to the future food agenda. The current study relates to the future food supply, in particular, on the prospect of increasing mixed vegetables and fruits for domestic consumption.



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Table 1: Vacant Land under Vegetable and Fruit Farming of Bukit Payong, Terengganu. Cases

Names of project leader

Types of Crop Grown

Farm Area (in acre)

Workers Employed (persons)

Initial Capital (MYR)

1

Rohaili Mamat

Luffa, carrot, eggplant, chilli

7

6

7000

2

Mamat Othman

Watermelon, chilli, corn

2

6

10,000

3

ZakariaMamat

Gourd, corn, cucumber

1

0

2000

4

Zakaria Abdullah

Luffa, long bean, string bean, cucumber

1.5

2

3000

5

Salleh Ismail

Long bean, carrot, gourd

1

2

3000

6

Hussin Man

Cucumber, luffa, string bean, long bean, ladies finger

1

2

3500

7

WahabJusoh

Eggplant, winged bean

1

2

2000

8

RizuanNgah

Eggplant, cucumber, carrot, luffa

9

Minah Omar

Carrot, cucumber, long bean

10

AlwiBidin

Luffa, gourd, winged bean

Total

The ultimate cause of the failure to develop the vacant agricultural lands was discussed much earlier alleged to be attributed to the altitude of rural people [Amariah, 2001]. The rural folks, in particular, would not be happy to allow private developers working on their lands. This refusal indicated their desire to relegate the task to younger generations. The youngsters prefer to work in modern economic sectors which are somewhat booming in the cities. Thus, progress to rehabilitate vacant agriculture land was rather slow despite the urgency need for sufficient food production. The burden of food import was realized in terms of a constant increase in total food imports and the sharp increase in imported fertilizer prices. Amriah et al., [1988] attributed the prevalence of vacant land to the unfavourable physical, economic and social characteristics; (i) land topography, soil type, water supply and accessibility; (ii) lack of manpower and technical skill, and (iii) uneconomic size of holdings. Multiple-existence of ownership right to land arising from inheritance could deter land utilization. Azima and Ismail [2011] attributed the difficulty of conversion of agricultural land for development which is responsible for the prevalence of vacant land, to the institutional constraints, specifically the provision of

1

2

2000

0.5

1

1000

1

1

2000

17

24

35,500

customary laws adopted in Negeri Sembilan. According to Haniza and Muhammad [2012] during the Ninth Malaysian Plan (2001-2005) about 163,000 hectares land remained vacant despite concerted effort were taken by the land authorities. In their views agriculture lands were abandoned because of uneconomic size which is coupled with low productivity that could not generate sufficient income to the operators. Azima and Ismail [2009] asserted that agricultural sector is undoubtedly important as it saves billions of dollars on imports of products. The concern lies in the existing agriculture vacant land and low productivity which should be addressed to overcome the shortage of domestic production. According to official source about 1.44 thousand hectares of agriculture lands in Peninsular Malaysia are categorized as vacant agricultural land [DOA, 2009]. This constitutes about 35 percent of the total agriculture land in the country. The opportunity of vacant land for immediate cultivation with high market oriented crops would directly benefit the country. Their findings show that the efforts initiated by the government often meet with limited success. Vaiphasa et al., [2011] realized the importance of vacant agriculture land to the economy as sources of income and employment to the



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country. In classifying vacant agricultural land for the appropriate crops the satellite images were employed and transformed the results to a time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Remote sensing was used because of its cost effectiveness. It could shorten the time required for field survey thereby save cost on field work. They claimed that the technology of remote sensing had never been used before in Thailand for the purpose of crop classification and identifying vacant agricultural land. The implication attributes to mismanagement and underutilization of the vacant land could be due to the insufficient information. Before necessary measures could take effect successfully there are prerequisite steps that should be done. Vacant agricultural land in Malaysia will continue to pose as an issue in the near future. Several studies have reported the negative impact of climate change on agriculture and food production. Attempt to promote and utilize vacant land for food production nationwide, referring to vegetables and fruits, is a national agenda because it contributes to the national income, creates employment opportunities and encourages domestic consumption. Surplus production of food can be utilized for exports. The importance of cash crops grown as intercropping with the primary commodities like rubber and oil palms was discussed by Faridah Ahmad [2001]. A large quantity of chemical fertilizer application is imported from oversea. The concern for health hazards due to environmental degradation is ever-growing and the integrated farming system is instead promoted among farmers. These short term crops include pineapples, chili, maize and mushroom; livestock especially sheep and poultry are cultivated and reared within perennial crops and forest. Various studies on the application of linear programming (LP) were conducted in agriculture. It is felt that the following examples would be sufficient for the purpose of this review. One of these LP applications is to evaluate the impact of government programs on sustaining agriculture in the Peace River

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Region of British Columbia [Majid, 1992]. The objective of maximizing net farm income is an assumption in all LP techniques. The findings from this study indicated that four of the government agricultural programs— Western Grain Stabilization Act, Special Canadian Grain Program, Crop Insurance and Chemical Rebates that purported the utilization of marginal lands encountered soil erosion. In particular wheat and summer-fallow activities suffered up to 26 percent of soil erosion and thus to a large extent the sustainability of the agricultural lands. The other example is chosen from the Nile River study. The river is the main source of water supply in Egypt [Hesham, 2002]. Of the total 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile water 86 percent goes to agriculture. The demand for water use is increasing due to agricultural expansion. The LP technique was applied to locate the distribution of water in accordance with the crops’ requirement. This is a minimization problem of water use among crops. The optimal allocation consumptive use in lower, middle, and upper Egypt is related to the actual crop pattern. Methodology Linear programming starts with the primal problem which forms the procedure is used in solving vacant land for the current study. The solution uses simplex method and in this case study the excel spread sheet solver is used. The primal problem of the LP is to maximize total return, Z, which is the sum of individual crop sales, cjxj. These activities should be equal or less than the availability of resources which are the constraints, bi such as land, labor and capital. Maximize Z = Subject to

(1)

The dual problem of linear programming above is the minimization of the resource activities zi with the right-hand side resource constraints



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as coefficients of the objective function. The constraint equation is the sum of αijzi for which zi should be greater and equal to zero. Mathematically the LP dual problem is to Minimize Y = (2) Subject to

This study utilized and further developed a simplified primal linear programming problem by redefining coefficients of aij to represent specific types of crop using land, capital and labor resources. In view of these changes righthand side (RHS) resource availability has to be correspondingly changed to as aij ={ αij ,βij , µij}; bi ={ Ai , Ki ,Li } for RHS land, capital and labor resource constraint respectively. The new primal linear programming problem with redefinition of items above and the objective of maximization remains as before can now be rewritten as Maximize Z = (3) Subject to

land (area), capital (MYR) and labor (man-days) are known, then the per unit of land, capital and labor requirement can be calculated which should be equal to αij=Aij/yij

(4)

The explanation for the land identity is that, if cucumber yields 3.0 metric ton per acre (2.712 hectare), one metric ton would yield α11=1/3.0 which is 0.33 acre. Similar explanation is used for per unit capital and labor requirements. For the first row and column of per unit capital requirement β11=2000/3.0 which is MYR666.67, and per unit labor requirement µ11=304/3.0 which is 101.33 man-days. The generalized formula for capital and labor requirements are shown in equations (5) and (6) respectively. The detailed representation of primal LP problem of the structural equation for current study utilizes excel spreadsheet (m=n=4) which is shown in equation (7) βij = Kij / yij (5) µij= Lij/ yij

(6)

Maximize Z = c1 x1 + c2 x2+. . .+ cnxn

(7)

Subject to

where αij is per unit (one metric ton) land requirement for the row of ith crops and column of jth land activities, βij is per unit (one MYR) capital requirement for the row of ith crops and column of jth capital activities, and µijis per unit (one man-day) labor requirement for the row of ith crops and jth column of labor activities. Suppose that the information on crops’ yields (yij) is given and the resource requirements for Journal of Business and Social Development Volume 2(1) 2014: 1-13


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convert them to equalities for finding solution using Simplex Method. The technique begins by choosing the crop with the highest return and with the second highest returns and evaluates the process through iterations until the optimal solution is reached that yields the maximum total return.

All Ai , Ki , Li , yij, cj, and xj≥ 0 As noted these equations are inequalities, therefore slack variables are added to the objective function and structural equations to

Table 2 shows price, yield and cropping pattern of vegetables and fruits. As shown in this table labor supply is available in excess of crops requirement, while financial capital is a major constraint that cannot be increased immediately. The data on vegetables and fruits were collected from the growers through face-to-face interview with the objective of obtaining the necessary information about the viability of this project in terms of profitability, sustainability, and the potential contribution to the national goal of

Table 2: Price, Yield and Cropping Pattern for Vegetable and Fruit Farm of Bukit Payong, Terengganu. Cucumber

Eggplant

Carrot

Corn

Price per mt (MYR)*

1500

1400

3000

5700

Yield per acre (mt)

3

3.485

3.285

7.5

Feb-March

1

1

1

4

March-May

1

0

0

0

April-July

0

1

0

0

August-November

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

4

Feb-March

2,000

0

0

0

March-May

0

2,500

0

0

April-July

0

0

1000

0

August-November

0

0

0

13,500

Land area (acre)

Input Requirement per acre Capital (MYR)

Labor (man-days) Feb-March March-May

304 480

April-July August-November

304 600

*1 MYR = $US 0.323



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Table 3: Input Requirements per metric ton of Crop Grown. Resources Availability

Cucumber

Feb-March

1

0.3333

March-May

1

April-July

1

August-November

4

Eggplant

Carrot

Corn

Land area (acre) 0.2869 0.3044 0.1333

Capital (MYR per crop) Feb-March

2,000

March-May

2500

April-July

1000

August-November

13500

666.67 717.36 304.41 1800

Labor (man-days per crop) Feb-March

304

March-May

480

April-July

304

August-November

600

101.33 137.73 92.54 80

achieving high income country by year 2020. Input requirements per acre are used in this table which will be converted to input requirements per metric ton for capital (cash), labor (mandays) and land (acre) which is shown in Table 3.

and outputs are linear, divisibility of inputs used in the production process into fractional units and the non-negativity assumption of the output of vegetables and fruits.

This final conversion of input data per metric ton requirement will be used as the linear programming maximization problem of gross return. The objective function can be further developed if data on unit cost of every output, that is, vegetables and fruits are available. Therefore, the linear programming problem when costs are available should be deducted from respective prices to obtain the net return or profit instead the gross return as in the present study.

Results and Discussion

The question is how effective is the project operation with respect to the management of scarce resources? The project viability is evaluated using LP technique based on the information of Table 3. The assumption of the model is that all the relationships between inputs

The LP technique was used to identify whether these farms are operated at the optimal production level. If not by shifting the combination of the input-mix would enable the farm to attain higher production. The hypothesis is that, most farms are not operated at the optimal crop-combination as such resources are not being fully and efficiently utilized. To overcome this management problem linear programming technique was used so that an efficient crops-combination could be realized to improve production and productivity. The optimal crops combination was tried on the situation of status quo, that is, with the existing availability of three categories of land, capital and labor resources. This LP optimal



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solution of crop-combination for vegetables and fruits is presented in Table 4. All resources on land area, financing capital and labor hours are fully utilized yielding an annual income of MYR61, 984, that is, an average monthly gross return of about MYR6 thousand. In December and January, vegetable farming are laid off due to heavy rain from the South China Sea monsoon season. With the present resource availability room for further improvement in farm income has reached its maximum potential. The farm production could obviously be raised with a larger number of farmers involved, more land to till and additional capital to fully utilize the vacant agriculture land viability. Thus, this program would speed up the country’s goal of achieving high income nation.

The idea of utilizing vacant land for vegetables and fruits farming could be spread out to other major cities which would amount to million or billion ringgits business activities depending on the number of successful individual willing to undertake this opportunity and the entrepreneur’s potential profitability. For this purpose it is believed that the existing farm size for all crops are increased from 1.0 to 1.5 acres to take advantage of the vacant land and potential for growth and development. Capital requirements for cucumber are increased from MYR2,500 to MYR3,000. For the improvement in employment all labor requirements are raised accordingly as shown in the Table 5. The new optimal cultivated farm area planted to cucumber, eggplant, carrot and corn

Table 4: Optimal Solution of Vegetable and Fruit Farm of Bukit Payong, Terengganu. Type of Veg. & Fruit Qty. of Production (MT) Price (MYR/MT)

Cucumber

Eggplant

Carrot

Corn

3.000

3.485

3.285

7.500

1,500

1,400

3,000

5,700

Gross Return 61,984.107 Resource Used

Resource Available

0.9999

1

0.9998

1

0.9999

1

0.9998

4

2000

2000

2500

2500

1000

1000

13500

13500

303.99

304

479.99

480

303.99

304

600

600

Constraints: Land area (acre) Feb-March

0.3333

March-May

0.2869

April-July

0.3044

August-November

0.1333


666.67

March-May

717.36

April-July

304.41

August-November

1800

Labor (man-days per crop) Feb-March March-May April-July

101.33 137.73 92.54

August-November

80



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Table 5: New Optimal Solution with Increased Input Requirements per metric ton. Type of Veg. & Fruit Qty. of Production (MT) Price (MYR/MT)

Cucumber

Eggplant

Carrot

Corn

3.947

4.066

4.322

10.000

1,500

1,400

3,000

5,700


Resource Available

1.3157

1.5

1.1665

1.5

1.3158

1.5

1.3330

4

2631.68

3000

2916.73

4000

1315.80

1500

18000

20000

400

400

560

560

400

400

800

800


0.3333

March-May

0.2869

April-July

0.3044

August-November

0.1333


666.67

March-May

717.36

April-July

304.41

August-November

1800.00

Labor (man-days per crop) Feb-March March-May

101.33 137.73

April-July

92.54

August-November

with increased land size, capital and labor are shown in Table 5. The new LP optimal solution amount to about MYR81,581 which is an improvement over the initial optimal gross return of MYR61, 984. With the current optimal solution the supply of labor is fully utilized but land and capital requirements are in excess. For a large scale operation sufficient labor supply including skilled ones, is a precondition for growth unless labor is to be replaced with farm mechanization. This can reduce employment opportunity and dependent on conditions of products marketability and profitability. The actual financial requirements are lower than anticipated. Supposed that the farmers wish to know how sensitive is this cropping program to a change in price? Changes in price coefficients

80.00

are known as parameterization in LP sensitivity analysis. For the effect of a fall in price on the profitability of optimal solution the price of corn which is currently MYR5,700 is assumed to have fallen to MYR5,400 per kilogram. What will be the impact of this change? The result of price change is immediately known from the optimal solution such as in the case of the initial gross profit of MYR61,984 (Table 4) to about MYR59,734 (Table 6). Changes in coefficients of any price are immediately known from the optimal solution of the simplex tables. In practice, changes in price provide an early warning to farmers while they can precisely know the extent of the impact on their farm potential profitability.



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Table 6: Result of optimal solution following a fall in corn price. Type of Veg. & Fruit Qty. of Production (MT) Price (MYR/MT)

Cucumber

Eggplant

Carrot

Corn

3.000

3.485

3.285

7.500

1,500

1,400

3,000

5,700


Resource Available

0.9999

1

0.9998

1

1.0000

1

0.9998

4

2000

2,000

2500

2500

1000

1000

13500

13500

303.99

304

479.99

480

304.00

304

600

600


0.3333

March-May

0.2869

April-July

0.3044

August-November

0.1333


666.67

March-May

717.36

April-July

304.41

August-November

1800.00

Labor (man-days per crop) Feb-March March-May

101.33 137.73

April-July

92.54

August-November

Conclusion This investigation was undertaken with the intention to improve the utilization of vacant agriculture land specifically referring to the rural area of Kuala Terengganu. The implication of unproductive agriculture land can be inferred to all states in Malaysia. The utilization of vacant land helps to generate income, provides employment opportunities and acts to reduce socio-economic problem of poverty. With the availability of 4 acres of vacant land and MYR19 thousand of capital, the four types of vegetables cucumber, eggplant, carrot and corn, a farm operator would likely earn an income of MYR61,984 per year. With 5 acres of land and MYR25 thousand of capital the expected farm earning rises to MYR81,580 per year. This could

80.00

only be realized if farm operates under optimal condition and labor is easily available. The economic transformation from agriculture to the modern sectors, in particular, manufacturing and service industries contributed greatly to the development of this country. Although labor intensive agriculture might improve opportunity for employment it should not be the ultimate goal. The modernization of agriculture sector would certainly enhance agriculture importance that may contribute to the economic growth of this nation. The issue of vacant land continues to persist but most likely it tends to improve with agriculture supremacy. Land which is limited in supply is an investment that could generate income to the owners through price increment over time,



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especially if it is located in strategic area. This unique attribute has attracted many investors to buy land for the sake of windfall income when the demand for land is high. While urbanization is past spreading and development projects: housing and industrial sites coexist such prospect of windfall income through the owing and selling of urban, semi-urban, and agricultural lands becomes a reality. Many of these agricultural lands were converted to residential use and parceled into small housing lots and sold at much higher prices. Selling of housing lot with the house would probably be more profitable. Thus the existence of vacant land becomes widespread while buying and selling of land are normal speculative practices.

References

This success is not without problems. Changes in the price of major crop like corn might affect their potential income and the occurrence of seasonal floods can cause damage to the entire crops before they can be harvested. Their products can be sold directly to the city’s wet market at wholesale price and mostly consumed within the state of Terengganu. Surplus vegetable and fruit productions can be marketed to other towns within the State with the coming of new highways.

Amriah, B. Asmah, A., Md. Rahil, M. N., & Mohd Fuad, M. J. (1988). Planning and Implementation of Vacant Land Rehabilitation Programmes, Research funded by grants under Intensification of Research in Priority Areas (lRPA), Ministry of Science and Technology.

Following an expansion in the business, farm production might be shipped to areas outside the state of Terengganu. Production and marketing problems may change from the current scenarios. These changes which should take place due to the change in consumers’ preference, call for improved management and governance. In the shipment of vegetables and fruits there should be a certain percentage of demand for high quality products such that packaging is required. With the spread of modernization more consumers are accessible to mini and super markets. Their preference and taste for fruits and vegetables is likely tend to be focused to these new market places. Therefore marketing strategy should be adjusted from time to time to changes in consumer’s preference and location.

Azima, A. M. & Ismail, O. (2009). Challenges on Idle Agriculture Land Management–An Institutional Perspective in Malaysia. In European Journal of Social Sciences, 9(1): 39-47. Azima, A.M. & Ismail, O. (2011). Idle Agriculture Land Resources Management and Development –An Institutional Causes: A Case Study in Malaysia. Inter Disciplinary Journal of Research in Business, 1(8): 21-27. Borneo Post Online (2011). Ensuring sufficient Food Supply in the Country. Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, March 29.

Amriah, B. (2001). Privatizing the Rehabilitation of Vacant Agriculture Land in Malaysia, Feedback from the Malay Folks. DOA. (2009). Statistics on Idle Lands 2009. Department of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia. DOA. (2012). Statistics on Idle Lands 2012. Department of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Malaysia. Faridah Ahmad. (2001). Sustainable Agriculture System in Malaysia, paper presented at Regional Workshop on Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS), Development in Rural Poverty Alleviation, 18-20 September 2001, Bangkok. Haniza Khalid and Muhammad Dayyan. (2012). Resource Management: Fragmentation of Land Ownership and Its Impact on Sustainability of Agriculture. UMT 11th International Annual Symposium on Sustainability Science and Management 9–11 July 2012, Terengganu, Malaysia.



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Hesham, M. Ali and Muhamed, Mahmoud, R. (2002). Determining Optimal Allocation and Crop from the Malay Folks . Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum., 9(2): 103-112. Majid Kwabena Addo. (1992). Effects of Government Programmes on Sustainable Agriculture in the Peace River Region of British Columbia: A Linear Programming Analysis. Unpublished Master of Science

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thesis. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of British Columbia, Canada. Vaiphasa, C. Piamduaytham, S., Vaiphasa, T and Skidmore, A. K. (2011). A Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) TimeSeries Agriculture Land: A Preliminary Study. Engineering Journal, 15(1): 9-1.



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