Economic optimization or the cultivation of potatoes, carrots and onions in Cartago, Costa Rica

Potato, onion and carrot production is of great economic importance in the northern zone of Cartago province. For this reason, it is necessary to seek the optimization of agricultural land that allows programming the offer and meet the needs and national market conditions. In this study, the annual profitability of sowing 2,34 hectares of potatoes, onions and carrots, using a linear programming model. This work was carried out during the first semester of 2019 with producers in the zone and data from primary sources of institutions related to the agricultural sector were used. Two optimization scenarios of the profitability function were applied based on restrictions of usable area, market capacity and budget. In both scenarios, it was possible to optimize the profitability function with all the usable land, the lag of the crop cycles was respected and the least available budget was used. The profitability optimization of each crop provides an important contribution that allows to understand the sowing behavior of the producers in the search to obtain the greatest use of resources, the best sowing distribution and the highest possible profitability.