Sugarcane Allocation for Sugar Mills in East Java Province: Spatial Distribution and Transportation Method Approach

¹ Laboratory of Agro-industrial Computing and System, Faculty of Agriculture Technology, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, Indonesia
² Department of Agro-industrial Technology, Faculty of Agriculture Technology, Universitas Brawijaya, Jl. Veteran, Malang 65145, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: aunurrm@ub.ac.id

Abstract

East Java is the province with the largest sugar production in Indonesia, supported by a large sugarcane plantation area to meet the needs of sugar mills. However, the latest data shows that there is a gap between the sugarcane supply and demand. This study aims to determine the distribution map of sugarcane against sugar mills demand and the optimal sugarcane allocation for sugar mills in East Java. The spatial distribution of sugarcane production and sugar mills demand was built using QGIS 3.34.4 while the optimization of sugarcane allocation using the transportation method approach was done by using OpenSolver in the Microsoft Excel platform. The results show that there are sugarcane plantations spread across 424 sub-districts and 29 sugar mills. The total demand by sugar mills is larger than the total sugarcane production, with the difference of 4,375,804 tons. Therefore, there are two proposed scenarios. First, finding the optimal solution using dummy. Second, calculating optimal solutions by adjusting the demand of sugar mills proportionally to the difference between demand and sugarcane supply. The first scenario produces a total transportation cost of Rp 747,275,819,472, - with 9 sugar mills getting supplies from the dummy. The second optimization scenario produces a total transportation cost of Rp 842,750,679,416. The managerial implications derived from this study can guide policymakers in making more informed decisions regarding procurement strategies, local supply regulations, and cost management.