COURSE CODE: FRM 305

COURSE TITLE: Introduction to forest and wildlife management

NUMBER OF UNITS: 2 Units

COURSE DURATION: Two hours per week

COURSE DETAILS:
COURSE DETAILS:

Course Coordinator: Dr. Adedokun Margaret Olufunsho B.Sc; M.Sc; PhD

Email: [email protected]

Office Location:
Other Lecturers:

COURSE CONTENT:

Organisation of Forest and Wildlife Resources, morphology, taxonomy and ecology

of tropical trees and wildlife. Forest and Wildlife Production Activities, Forest and
Wildlife Protection and the regulation of harvest for sustained yield, Preparation of
management plans. Solving managerial problems. Introduction to Operations research
in Forest and Wildlife

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
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READING LIST:

E
LECTURE NOTES

COURSE CONTENT

Organisation of Forest and Wildlife Resources, morphology, taxonomy and ecology

of tropical trees and wildlife. Forest and Wildlife Production Activities, Forest and
Wildlife Protection and the regulation of harvest for sustained yield, Preparation of
management plans. Solving managerial problems. Introduction to Operations research
in Forest and Wildlife

Forest and Wildlife Management (FWM 305) Forest Management Option

Forest management is the branch of forestry concerned with the overall
administrative, economic, legal, and social aspects and with the essentially scientific
and technical aspects, especially Silviculture, protection, and forest regulation. This
includes management for aesthetics, fish, recreation, urban values, water, wilderness,
wildlife, wood products, forest genetic resources and other forest resource values [1].
Management can be based on conservation, economics, or a mixture of the two.
Techniques include timber extraction, planting and replanting of various species,
cutting roads and pathways through forests, and preventing fire.

There has been an increased public awareness of natural resource policy, including
forest management. Public concern regarding forest management may have shifted
from the extraction of timber to the preservation of additional forest resources,
including wildlife and old growth forest, protecting biodiversity, watershed
management, and recreation. Increased environmental awareness may contribute to an
increased public mistrust of forest management professionals.

Many tools like GIS modeling have been developed to improve forest inventory and
management planning. The abundance and diversity of birds, mammals, amphibians
and other wildlife are affected by strategies and types of forest management.

Deforestation and increased road-building in the Amazon Rainforest are a significant

concern because of increased human encroachment upon wild areas, increased
resource extraction and further threats to biodiversity.

Natural resources

Natural resources (economically referred to as land or raw materials) occur naturally

within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A
natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity existent in various
ecosystems. Natural resources are derived from the environment. This is currently
restricted to the environment of Earth yet the theoretical possibility remains of
extracting them from outside the planet, such as the asteroid belt.[1] Many of them are
essential for our survival while others are used for satisfying our wants. Natural
resources may be further classified in different ways.

Classification: On the basis of origin, resources may be divided into:

 Biotic - Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere, such as forests and
their products, animals, birds and their products, fish and other marine
organisms. Mineral fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this
category because they formed from decayed organic matter.
 Abiotic - Abiotic resources include non-living things. Examples include land,
water, air and ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver etc.

Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the

following ways:

 Potential Resources - Potential resources are those that exist in a region and
may be used in the future. For example, petroleum may exist in many parts of
 India, having sedimentary rocks but until the time it is actually drilled out and
put into use, it remains a potential resource.
 Actual Resources are those that have been surveyed, their quantity and quality
determined and are being used in present times. The development of an actual
resource, such as wood processing depends upon the technology available and
the cost involved. That part of the actual resource that can be developed
profitably with available technology is called a reserve.

On the basis of status of development, they can be classified into potential resources,
developed resources, stock and reserves.

With respect to renewability, natural resources can be categorized as follows:

 Renewable resources are ones that can be replenished or reproduced easily.

Some of them, like sunlight, air, wind, etc., are continuously available and
their quantity is not affected by human consumption. Many renewable
resources can be depleted by human use, but may also be replenished, thus
maintaining a flow. Some of these, like agricultural crops, take a short time for
renewal; others, like water, take a comparatively longer time, while still
others, like forests, take even longer.
 Non-renewable resources are formed over very long geological periods.
Minerals and fossil fuels are included in this category. Since their rate of
formation is extremely slow, they cannot be replenished once they get
depleted. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them.[2]
But coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.[3]

On the basis of availability, natural resources can be categorized as follows:

 Inexhaustible natural resources- Those resources which are present in

unlimited quantity in nature and are not likely to be exhausted easily by
human activity are inexhaustible natural resources (sunlight, air etc.)
 Exhaustible natural resources- The amount of these resources are limited.
They can be exhausted by human activity in the long run (coal, petroleum,
natural gas, etc.) Some examples of natural resources include the following:

 Air, wind and atmosphere

 Plants
 Animals
 Coal, fossil fuels, rock and mineral resources
 Forestry
 Range and pasture
 Soils
 Water, oceans, lakes, groundwater and rivers [4]
 Sun (Solar Power)

Natural resource management is a discipline in the management of natural resources

such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how
management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural
resource management is interrelated with the concept of sustainable development, a
principle that forms a basis for land management and environmental governance
throughout the world.

In contrast to the policy emphases of urban planning and the broader concept of
environmental management, Natural resource management specifically focuses on a
scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and the life-
supporting capacity of those resources.

Sustainable Forest Management

It is difficult to explicitly define what sustainable forest management is. However,

several recent international meetings have suggested that the following seven thematic
elements are key components.

(1) Extent of forest resources;

(2) Biological diversity;

(3) Forest health and vitality;

(4) Productive functions of forest resources;

(5) Protective functions of forest resources;

(6) Socio-economic functions;

(7) Legal, policy and institutional framework.

These thematic elements, acknowledged by UNFF, are based on the criteria of the
nine on-going regional/international processes on criteria and indicators for
sustainable forest management, and were acknowledged by the International
Conference on Criteria and Indicators in Guatemala in February 2003 (CICI 2003)
and by the FAO Committee on Forestry in 2003. In February 2004, the FAO/ITTO
Expert Consultation on Criteria and Indicators recognized that these elements are
important for facilitating international communication on forest-related issues. The
thematic elements are also used in the FAO-led global forest resources assessment
(FRA) as a reporting framework.

The following draft descriptions of the seven themes are currently proposed:

1. Extent of forest resources:

The theme expresses an overall desire to have significant forest cover and stocking,
including trees outside forests, to support the social, economic and environmental
dimensions of forestry. For example, the existence and extent of specific forest types
are important as a basis for conservation efforts. The theme encompasses ambitions to
reduce deforestation and to restore and rehabilitate degraded forest landscapes. This
theme also includes the important function of forests and trees outside forests to store
carbon and thereby contribute to moderating the global climate.
2. Biological diversity:

The theme concerns the conservation and management of biological diversity at the
ecosystem (landscape), species and genetic levels. Such conservation, including
protecting areas with fragile ecosystems, ensures that diversity of life is maintained,
and provides opportunities to develop new products, for example medicines, in the
future. Genetic improvement is also a means to improve forest productivity, for
example to ensure a high wood production in intensively managed forests.

3. Forest health and vitality:

Forests need to be managed so that risks and impacts of unwanted disturbances are
minimized, including wildfires, airborne pollution, storm felling, invasive species,
pests, diseases and insects. Such disturbances may impact social, economic as well as
environmental dimensions of forestry.

4. Productive functions of forest resources:

Forests and trees outside forests provide a wide range of wood and non-wood forest
products. The theme expresses the ambition to maintain a high and valuable supply of
primary forest products, while at the same time ensuring that production and
harvesting are sustainable and do not compromise management options of future
generations.

5. Protective functions of forest resources:

The theme addresses the role of forests and trees outside forests to help moderate soil,
hydrological and aquatic systems. This includes to maintain clean water including e.g.
healthy fish populations, as well as to reduce risks or impacts of floods, avalanches,
erosion and droughts. Protective functions of forest resources also contribute to
ecosystem conservation efforts. Protective functions of forest resources have strong
cross-sectoral aspects, as the benefits to agriculture and rural livelihoods are high.

6. Socio-economic functions:

The theme addresses the contributions of forest resources to the overall economy, for
example through employment, values generated through processing and marketing of
forest products and energy, trade, and investments in the forest sector. The theme also
addresses the important functions of forest to host and protect sites and landscapes
that have high cultural, spiritual or recreational values, and thus include aspects of
land tenure, indigenous and community management systems, and traditional
knowledge.

7. Legal, policy and institutional framework:

The theme includes the legal, policy and institutional arrangements necessary to
support the above six themes, including participatory decision making, governance
and law enforcement, and monitoring and assessment of progress. The theme also
addresses broader societal aspects, including fair and equitable use of forest resources,
science research and education, infrastructure arrangements to support the forest
sector, transfer of technology and capacity building, and public information and
communication.

Forest Management Planning:

Forest management planning is a process that helps you identify the resources and
opportunities available on your property and what you would like to realize from your
Property in terms of financial gain and long-term enjoyment. What do you want from
your forest land? What do you want your forest to look like in the future? What about
your forest is most important to you? Forest management planning is a means of
identifying what can be done to enhance and protect the values and aspects of your
property that are most important to you. These aspects might include wildlife,
recreation, aesthetics, timber, livestock ranching, inheritance values, and others. The
first step in the process of forest management planning involves determining where
you want to be in terms of your forest resources and property. This step involves
deciding on your goals, broad reasons for owning forest land (e.g., aesthetics, wildlife,
long-term financial investment and gain, immediate dollar returns, recreational
opportunities), and determining more specific objectives, or actions, that will lead to
your goals (e.g., improving elk habitat, increasing the value of standing timber
through removal of undesirable and unhealthy trees, decreasing risk of wildfire by
removing fallen timber and slash). Next, you need to determine where you are in
terms of those goals and objectives. This is done through resource inventory and
evaluation. Resource inventory provides information on the quality, quantity, and
species of timber on your property; landscape features such as soils and topography;
wildlife and plant species of interest or concern; and water resources. While not all of
this information may be necessary to complete your objectives, the more information
provided in an inventory, the better. Your goals and objectives may change over time,
making this additional information necessary. The next step in forest management
planning is identifying a list of recommendations describing what to do to get to
where you want to be. The recommendations also may include a specific activity
schedule that lays out how, when, and where to implement specific actions and how
those actions relate to your goals and objectives. These steps should be detailed in a
written plan that is used as a reference for management of your forest. The written
plan may be a comprehensive management or stewardship plan that addresses all the
steps just discussed, or a practice/activity plan that focuses on how to complete a
specific activity to help get you where you want to be.

Types of Written Plans:

Depending on the ownership goals, a written plan may be a management plan, a
stewardship plan, or a practice/ activity plan.

Management and Stewardship Plans:

Both management and stewardship plans cover long-term goals and objectives and
encompass a time period of ten years or more. These plans include a discussion of
your goals and objectives, a detailed property description and resource inventory, and
a list of management recommendations with an activity schedule. A management plan
sometimes focuses mainly on timber resources, while a stewardship plan encompasses
other resource values as well, such as wildlife and recreation. Both types of plans may
help you qualify for potential cost-share and tax benefits through the Stewardship
Incentives Program and other programs.

Practice/Activity Plan:
A practice/activity plan or timber sale plan is not a complete management plan, but
instead addresses short-term goals associated with a specific activity, like a one-time
timber harvest. This type of plan focuses on describing the details of the activity, such
as which trees are to be cut; marking method; method of payment; harvesting system;
location of roads, skid trails, and landings; treatment of slash; and erosion control,
rehabilitation, or reforestation measures. Such a plan may stand alone as an activity
plan or may be prepared as part of the management recommendations section of a
more comprehensive management plan. In either case, the information detailed in
such a plan is essential to a successful timber harvest and should be included as part
of a timber sale contract.

Reasons for Forest Management Plan:

Forest management plans allow you to sort out what you really want from your forest
and help you successfully and efficiently reach your goals. Management planning can
mean the difference between liquidating your timber resource for a one-time cash
return or earning repeated dollar returns from intermittent thinning harvests while at
the same time increasing the value of your standing timber. It can mean the difference
between having to sell your property to meet property or inheritance tax obligations or
insuring that your property stays under family ownership for generations to come by
managing for sustainable timber harvests and income production. It can mean the
difference between restricting cattle movement because of a tangle of untreated
logging slash or potentially increasing livestock forage through careful opening of the
forest canopy. Forest management planning can help protect you, as a landowner,
from liabilities associated with the impacts of timber harvesting and other forest
activities both on and off your land. Planning can help you make the most of your
resources while protecting the resources that we all share, such as water quality and
beautiful scenery. The more forethought that goes into how you manage your lands,
the less chance you have of making costly forest management mistakes. Growing
conditions in Utah are such that once mistakes in forest management have been made,
it is difficult, if not impossible, for the forest resource to recover. Harvesting trees at
the wrong time, cutting the wrong trees, or neglecting a forest health problem like an
insect infestation may mean that the income and productive potential of your property
will be impacted well beyond your lifetime! These types of mistakes can be avoided
by careful planning. Forest management planning can mean the difference between
making the most of your resources or having to pick up the pieces after mistakes have
been made.

How to carry out Forest Management Planning:

The six basic steps for developing a forest management plan for your property are:
1. Seek the assistance of a professional.
2. Determine your goals and objectives.
3. Inventory and evaluate your resources.
4. Formulate an activity schedule.
5. Implement activities and monitor progress toward meeting your intended goals.
6. Review your plan every few years and update it when necessary

Components of a Forest Management Plan should include:

1) Ownership goals and management objectives: this is the heart of the plan and
describes what you want to gain from your property and resources.
2) Maps: help to describe the property and resources and may include topographic
maps, soils maps, cover type or stand maps, and aerial photos, if available.
3) Property boundary description: a legal description of your property location and
acreage.
4) Resource inventory data: descriptions of water bodies, wildlife, vegetation, soils,
topography, and access. Timber inventory data should include information on the
species, sizes, quality, and quantity of timber; stand structure and condition; and the
presence and extent of forest pests (bark beetles, mistletoe, etc).
5) Management recommendations: detailed management options and how they relate
to ownership goals and objectives.
6) Activity schedule for recommendations: specifies a timeline for management
activities.

Might include:
1) Discussion of current and future forest products markets and how that relates to the
timing of timber management activities.
2) Examination of costs of different management options and their potential returns.
3) Detailed recordkeeping section describing all past, current, and projected
expenditures and returns.

Forest Land Use Planning:

This requires planning exercises that are carried out on a variety of scales in other to
capture and assess all of the information necessary for sustainable development. In
Nigeria, forest management planning and implementation is for the most parts carried
out at the state level based on broad policy objectives formulated by the national
government. State governments can incorporate the various levels of planning (local,
regional, national and global), into their forest management planning by utilising the
three scales of planning outlined below;

The three scales of planning require for sustainable forest management:

Planning type Map scale Objective Planning activities

Landscape level 50,000-250,000 Achieving Long range
forest management sustainable land at (100yrs) planning
planning the forest estate for agriculture,
forestry,
conservation, urban
e. t. c.
Strategic forest 10,000-50,000 Achieving Medium range (5-
management sustainable land at 10yrs) planning for
planning the forest estate Silviculture
treatment , timber
harvesting,
restoration,
plantation
establishment
conservation e. t. c
Tactical field 2,000-10,000 Achieving Short range (1yr)
management sustainable planning for
planning management of Silviculture,
individual forest harvesting
lands restoration and
plantation
establishment

Landscape level forest management planning is directed at meeting national and

global objectives in forest management.

Strategic forest management planning constitutes important long-range planning at a

regional scale within an estate.

Tactical field management planning operates at the field or individual forest level

Sustained yield principles:

Sustained yield may be defined as maintaining a regular supply and continuous supply
of forest products without impairing the capacity of the land to support production.
The key objective is the achievement of an appropriate or normal distribution of size
classes of trees within the area under management. Although management for
sustained yield is a traditional objective, in forestry, it may conflict with other
components of sustainability. For example, large ancient trees of primary or old
growth forests may often be felled to produce a size structure appropriate for
sustained yield, despite their high ecological value.

Components of sustainable use

Maintenance of regenerative capacity: In order for the use of a particular tree

species to be sustainable, the species must retain sufficient genetic variation to be able
to adapt to changing environmental condition and the processes enabling this
adaptation to occur must be maintained to avoid extinction. This requires that key
regenerative processes such as pollination, seed development and dispersal, seedling
establishment and growth should be maintained.
Maintenance of biodiversity: sustainable use of a tree species require that
populations of other species are also maintained. Organisms that depend on trees may
face three problems as a consequence of tree uses;

i. Fewer trees
ii. A different spatial distribution of trees and
iii. Different patterns of fruit and leaf production. Those species
which are legally associated with particular tree species such some
as some pollinating insects and avian seed dispersals are more
likely to be adversely affected by the use of their ‘’host’’ trees
species than other organisms

Maintenance of ecological services: Trees provides a number of ecological services

including regulation of run-off and ground water flow, maintenance of soil fertility
and regulation of local and regional climate. Sustainable use may be defined as
maintaining the quantity and quality services being provided or in the capacity to such
services in the future. The principally involve the maintenance of canopy structure
and vegetation cover, and the adoption of appropriate harvesting techniques which
minimize soil disturbance and compaction.

Social and cultural impact: The concept of social sustainability reflects the ability of
a society to withstand shock or stresses brought about by a change in conditions.
Sustainable use of tree specie should therefore remain coherence of local communities
and the processes and institution which enable them persist. A key aspect of social
sustainability is the well-being of the social group concerned including cultural
heritage and identity, justice, safety and health. Recently, the sustainability concept
has also been applied to the maintenance of cultural diversity. Social and cultural
impacts of tree use are especially pronounced where species have particular cultural
or spiritual importance such as the shrine forest at Osun grove in Osun State.

Economic sustainability: Economic viable operations are those which are sufficiently
profitable to enable stability of operation but not at the expense of the forest resource,
the ecosystem or the affected communities. Essentially, activities of current
generation should not result in future generation being economically worse off. Trees
may be viewed as economic asset; how these assets are valued is central to defining
whether or not a particular use is economically sustainable. Failure to use properly
valued forest resources results in timber being traded at artificially low and
undervaluation of forest land and other forest resources by government.

Elements of sustainable management: sustainable forest management involves;

1. Planning for the production of wood for commercial purposes as well

as meeting local needs for fuelwood, poles food, fodder and other
purposes.
 2. It includes the protection or setting aside of areas to be managed as
plant or wildlife reserves, or for recreational or environmental
purposes.
3. It is concerned with ensuring that conversion of forested lands to
agriculture and other uses is done in properly planned and a controlled
way.
4. It also covers the regeneration of wasteland and degraded forest, the
integration of trees in the farming landscape and the promotion of
agro-forestry.
5. It is a multidisciplinary task, requiring collaboration between
government agencies, NGO’s and above all, people, especially, rural
people. It is concerned with local, national, regional and global levels.

Improper forest management practices:

The current poor condition of the forest resources in Nigeria is as a result of a lot of
improper forest management practices that have been employed over the years. This
includes;

1. There is no clearly short and long term forest management goals and
objectives which states can work with.
2. There is a lack of integrated forest land use planning.
3. There is a lack of forest management planning (short and long term)
4. There is a lack of monitoring/enforcement of activities regarding the forest
resource-based.
5. There are no attempts to ascertain if forest harvesting is taking place at
unsustainable level
6. Annual Allowable Cut (AAC) is based purely on demand without considering
the available supply and how to achieve a sustainable supply.
7. There is a great short-fall in the reforestation/afforestation require to keep pace
with current and expected future rate of deforestation.
8. There is a near absence of silvicultural activities essential to enhancing timber
quality and quantity (e. g thinning, pruning, fire protection e. t. c)

Introduction to operative research in forestry:

Linear programming (LP): this is a mathematical technique concerned with the

allocation of scare resources. It is a procedure to optimise the value of some objective
(for example, maximum profit or minimum cost) when the factors involved (e.g
labour or machine hours) are subject to some constraints (e.g. only 1000 labour hours
are available in a week).Thus, linear programming can be used to solve problems
which conform to the following:

1. The problem must be capable of being stated in numeric terms.

2. All factors involved in the problem must have linear relationship.
3. The problem must permit a choice or choices between alternative causes of
action.

4. There must be one or more restrictions on the factors involved. There may be
restrictions on resources (Labour hours) but they may be on a particular
characteristics, for example, fertiliser must contain a minimum of 15% phosphate
and 30% N2.

Note: The linear part of the term LP is explained above. The programming part
refer to the derivation of the optimum schedule, this is invariably carried out by an
iterative process whereby one moves from one solution to a better solution
progressively until a solution is reached which cannot be improved upon that is
optimum. In this context therefore, the term programming is not connected with
computer programming. A major factor in L.P. is the requirement that all
relationships are linear.

Operations Research (O. R.)

Operations research may be described as a scientific approach to decision making

that involves the operations of the Organisational systems. It can also be defined
as the application of scientific (especially mathematical) techniques to problems
of planning an Organisation in order to optimise the performance of the system.
However, this is a general description that is equally applicable to many other
fields as well. Therefore the best way of grasping the technique nature of
operations research is to examine its outstanding characteristics.

As its name implies, O. R. involves ‘’ Research on Operations’’. This says

something about both the approach and the area of application of the field. Thus,
Operations Research is applied to problems that concern how to conduct and co-
ordinate the operations or activities within an organisation. The nature of the
organisation is essentially immaterial and in fact O.R. has been applied
extensively in Business, Industry, the Military, Civil Government and Agencies,
Hospitals e. t. c. thus the breadth of application is unusually wide. The approach is
that of scientific method. In particular, the process begins by carefully observing
and formulating the problem and then constructing a scientific model that attempts
to abstract the essence of the real problem. It is the hypothesised that this model is
a sufficiently précised representation of the essential features of the situation, so
that the conclusion obtained from the model are also valid for the real problem.
This hypothesis is then modified and verified by suitable experimentation

Thus in a certain sense ‘’ Operation Research’’ involves creative scientific

research into the fundamental properties of operations. Specifically, O.R. is also
concerned with the practical management of the Organisation. Therefore, to be
successful, it must also provide understandable conclusions to the decision
maker(s) when they are needed.

In summary, O. R. is concerned with decision-making for situation which

originates from real life. These applications, occurring in Government, Business,
Engineering, Economics and the natural and social sciences are largely
characterised by the need to allocate resources. In these situations, considerable
insight can be obtained from scientific analysis such as that provided by O .R. The
contribution from the O. R. approach stems primarily on the following;

a. The structuring of the real life situation into a mathematical model,

abstracting the essential element so that a solution relevant to the
 decision maker’s objective can be sought. This involves looking at the
problem in the context of the entire system.
b. Exploring the structure of such solutions and developing systematic
procedures for obtaining them
c. Developing a solution that yields an optimal value of the system’s
measure of desirability (or possibly comparing alternative causes of
action by evaluating their measure of desirability).

Operations Research has wide application in almost all the field of studies which
include:

i. Forecasting

ii. Production scheduling

iii. Inventory control

iv. Quality control

v. Transportation

vi. Advertising and sales research

vii. Maintenance and repair

viii. Accounting procedures

ix. Plant location

x. Equipment replacement

xi. Packaging

xii. Capital budgeting

Planning an Operations Research Study:

The usual phases of an O .R. study are;

1. Formulating the problem

2. Constructing a mathematical model to represent the system under study.
3. Deriving a solution from the model.
4. Testing the model and the solution derived from it.
5. Establishing control over the solution
6. Putting the solution to work i. e. implementation

Linear programming (LP)-as a model in operation research

Expressing L.P problems

Before considering the problem, two major factors are important, which are:

Objective: The first step in L.P. is to decide what result is acquired: i.e. the objective.
This may be maximise profit or contribution, or minimise cost or time or some
appropriate measure. Having decided upon the objective, it is now necessary to state
mathematically the element involved in achieving this. This is called objective
function. (The second step)

Example 1

A plantation is established to produce 1200 products pole (A) and fuelwood (B). The
contributions that can be obtained from these products are: A contributes N20, 000
and B contributes N 30,000 and it is required to maximise contribution.

The objective function for this plantation can be expressed as:

Maximise N 20,000x1 + N 30,000x2

Where x1 =number of units of A produced

Where x2 =number of units of B Produced

Example 2

A forester mixes the fertilizer to boost the growth of his trees. Fertilizer N costs 20g
per naira. Fertilizer K costs 55g per naira each fertilizer contributes some essential
nutrients to the growth of the trees and the forester wishes to nurse/grow the trees as
cheaply as possible. The objective of the function is:

Minimise 20x1 + 40x2 + 55x3

Where x1 = number of weight of N

Where x2 = number of weight of P

Where x3 = number of weight of K