Prioritization of Strategic Agricultural Crops in Alborz Province Using the Fuzzy Delphi Method and The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)
Journal Title: Journal of Agricultural Machinery - Year 2014, Vol 4, Issue 1
Abstract
Alborz province with an area of about 5121.7 km2 has about 0.31% of the total area of the country. The total arable area of the province is about 48954 hectares. Water, land and capital are the most important factors for agricultural production. By understanding the subjective beliefs, decision-making criteria and economic incentives of local farmers, the priority of crops can be achieved with the maximum profitability of farmers and the least damage to the resources (water and land). The combination of Fuzzy Delphi techniques and methods of integrating analytical hierarchy process (AHP) can be an appropriate approach for achieving this goal. By employing the above combination of Fuzzy and AHP techniques, the priorities of the strategic agricultural crops in Alborz province achieved as wheat, barley, corn silage, alfalfa, cotton and canola, with final priority weighting factors of 0.496, 0.403, 0.354, 0.320, 0.183, and 0.090, respectively. By comparing the decision criteria it has been determined that the farmers prefer the amount of cultivation area, net income, production costs and livestock needs with the relative importance factors of 0.487, 0.410, 0.346 and 0.188, respectively. Among all prioritization criteria, the cultivated area had the highest priority. Water shortage, labor costs, lack of financial support, and governmental purchase allowance for wheat, were the main reasons for shifting the cultivated area towards wheat cultivation with total area of 14350 hectares.
Authors and Affiliations
M. Sharifi,A. Akram,Sh. Rafiee,M. Sabzehparvar,
Investigating the Efficiency of Drinking Water Treatment Sludge and Iron-Based Additives in Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure: A Kinetic Modeling Study
In the quest for enhanced anaerobic digestion (AD) performance and stability, iron-based additives as micro-nutrients and drinking water treatment sludge (DWTS) emerge as key players. This study investigates the kinetics...
Construction and evaluation of a hollow cone type nozzle with ceramic nanocomposites
Introduction: In order to improve the use of pesticides and pesticide consumption and prevent environmental pollution, manufactures and scientists have considered two major trends. The first major trend is improving tech...
Investigation on the Ultrasonic Nozzle Parameters Affecting Physical Properties of Tomato Powder
Introduction Preserving food products has been much regarded due to the population growth and food scarcity. Drying food is one of the methods of preventing the waste of food products. Spray drying for which products tha...
Evaluation of Technical and Yield Parameters of Wheat Seeding Methods with Different Seeding Rates in south Khuzestan
This study was conducted during two years (2007-2009) in Shawoor Agricultural Research Station on a silty-clay soil. Experiment conducted in split plots in a Randomized Complete Blocks Design in three replications. Main...
Microscopic Investigation of Cold Plasma Effect on Chickpea Seed Germination
IntroductionAs the world's population grows, more food need to be produced. Plasma technology is one of the methods that can improve plant growth. Cold plasma is effective in increasing growth and germination indices. In...