INTEGRATION OF COMPUTER-BASED MODELS AND TOOLS TO EVALUATE ALTERNATIVE LAND-USE SCENARIOS AS PART OF AN AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS-ANALYSIS

A wine variety of computer-based models and tools have been developed to describe and characterize agricultural production systems. For comp lex problems, however, no single application is available nor is it ad visable to develop one for practical reasons. Integration of models an d tools may be a solution, where limitations of some may be compensate d for by others. Different models and tools were integrated for the an alysis of different land-use scenarios for the Neguev settlement in th e perhumid tropical low-lands of Costa Rica, Crop-growth simulation mo dels and expert systems were used for the description of alternative l and-use systems. A geographical information system was used for data s torage, and the analysis and presentation of results. The optimization of land-use was carried out by a linear programming model. Using a se t ies of relevant land-use scenarios, effects are studied of: (i) chan ges in capital availability, (ii) restrictions on biocide use; and (ii i) the effect of nutrient depletion as a negative contribution to farm income. For the integration of models and tools, a modular approach i s proposed which is based on separate software packages and appropriat e database structures. The database structures can be jointly used by the different modules and form the link between them. In addition, a s eparate software package is used for the integration of the modules. T he methodology is particularly appropriate for interdisciplinary resea rch, integrating socio-economic and agro-ecological data.