Preservation of lake’s ecosystem and increasing productivity of dry land of Lake Tondano is a form of socioeconomic
and ecological conflict in the use of land resources associated with sedimentation rate control of Lake Tondano due to erosion of the lake in one side and farmer income and agricultural employment in the other side. Therefore, a solution
is needed to ensure optimal use of land for sustainable agriculture. Within this conceptual framework, we conducted a
study aiming to analyze the optimal allocation of land use type in order to ensure sustainable agriculture in the catchment of the lake Tondano The soil erosion was evaluated using USLE model. The farming analysis was carried out to evaluate agricultural income and employment. The analysis on optimal land use type allocation was performed using goal programming. The result showed that the optimal land use type allocation with erosion control priority could be achieved in all scenarios, whereas the maximum employment target could not be achieved in all priority scenarios. The priority on achievement of farming income to support the needs of decent living for farmers and farm workers could be attained by using forest land for plantation of non-timber crops such as palm trees to produce sugar and local alcoholic beverage, which contributed significantly in increasing the income, employment, and acceptable erosion level of the catchment area..