An Interactive Multi-Objective Linear Programming Approach for Watershed Planning-A Case Study

Agriculture is an economic activity that significantly contributes to the GDP of the country, and secures the viability of the rural sector and the social coherence. Optimal utilisation of available resources is important to meet the growing demand of food and fibres of the people. Watershed management planning study on the Badabandha Nala watershed in Banapur block of Khurda district, Odisha, was carried out using multi-objective programming approach and analysed with interactive technique (STEP method). A compromise solution was obtained from the optimal solutions by the preference of Decision Maker by using interactive step method. The land allocation plan was done considering the major crops grown in the area. The objective function was to maximise food, fodder, fuel wood, net income, labour employment generation and runoff water augmentation; considering constraints of land, water and human resources. The benefit-cost ratio of the proposed plan was 1.42: 1 with cropping intensity of 170% (kharif 91%, and rabi 79%). The benefit for the proposed planning was 184% higher than the existing practices.