Forecasting livestock feed sales using machine learning techniques: an analysis of the Moroccan market

Abstract

Agriculture, especially cereals, is important in sustaining economies and food security globally. This study delves into the Moroccan agricultural landscape, specifically focusing on predicting livestock feed sales to assist cereal company producers in optimizing production, streamlining supply chain operations, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Data collected from various markets across Morocco, including sales dates and locations, was combined with climate data and analyzed using advanced machine learning techniques, particularly the gradient boosting regression (GBR) algorithm, which achieved high accuracy with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0203 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.0281. The evaluation of multiple regression models revealed promising results, demonstrating the effectiveness of predictive models in accurately forecasting sales. These findings contribute valuable insights to sales forecasting in the cereal industry by considering weather conditions, production methods, and livestock-related variables, highlighting the importance of leveraging advanced machine learning techniques for optimizing production processes and meeting market demands efficiently in the agribusiness sector.