Fuzzy logic applied to prospecting for areas for installation of wood panel industries

Prospecting for suitable areas for forestry operations, where the objective is a reduction in production and transportation costs, as well as the maximization of profits and available resources, constitutes an optimization problem. However, fuzzy logic is an alternative method for solving this problem. In the context of prospecting for suitable areas for the installation of wood panel industries, we propose applying fuzzy logic analysis for simulating the planting of different species and eucalyptus hybrids in Espírito Santo State, Brazil. The necessary methodological steps for this study are as follows: a) agriclimatological zoning of different species and eucalyptus hybrids; b) the selection of the vector variables; c) the application of the Euclidean distance to the vector variables; d) the application of fuzzy logic to matrix variables of the Euclidean distance; and e) the application of overlap fuzzy logic to locate areas for installation of wood panel industries. Among all the species and hybrids, Corymbia citriodora showed the highest percentage values for the combined very good and good classes, with 8.60%, followed by Eucalyptus grandis with 8.52%, Eucalyptus urophylla with 8.35% and Urograndis with 8.34%. The fuzzy logic analysis afforded flexibility in prospecting for suitable areas for the installation of wood panel industries in the Espírito Santo State can bring great economic and social benefits to the local population with the generation of jobs, income, tax revenues and GDP increase for the State and municipalities involved. The proposed methodology can be adapted to other areas and agricultural crops.