The rational mechanization has as main objectives the selection and optimization of mechanized systems. An adequate purchase of agricultural machinery is not sufficient if its use is not controlled in operational and financial aspects. This work describes the development of software to estimate operational costs of agricultural machinery (MAQCONTROL), using Borland Delphi's development environment and Firebird database. The operational costs were divided in fixed and variable. In fixed costs, the expenses with depreciation, interest, storage and insurance were estimated. In variable costs, the emphasis was given to the expenses on maintenance, lubricating oils, filters, tires, grease, fuel, small repairs, and parts replacement. Results have shown the software efficiency for the proposed objectives. Therefore, the MAQCONTROL software proved to be an important tool in the rural management process, because it reduces information costs and accelerate the precise determination of operational costs of farm machinery.
agricultural mechanization; rural management; information system
