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AN AHP MODEL FOR CROP PLANNING WITHIN IRRIGATION COMMAND AREAS
Author(s) -
Montazar Aliasghar,
Gaffari Ahmad
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.645
Subject(s) - analytic hierarchy process , cropping , ranking (information retrieval) , computer science , operations research , agricultural diversification , irrigation , diversification (marketing strategy) , agricultural engineering , mathematics , engineering , agriculture , geography , business , artificial intelligence , archaeology , marketing , ecology , biology
ABSTRACT Crop planning decisions are complex due to a number of constraints, the desire to secure crop diversification and the involvement of various affected parameters. In the present study, a multi‐criteria technique, an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), is considered a promising framework for selecting adequate cropping patterns in an irrigation command area. The approach is illustrated using data from the Varamin Irrigation Network in I.R. Iran. Ten attribute decisions are considered for ranking the type of crop in the cropping system. These criteria are assumed nine attributes for determination of the crop cultivation area. The results show that the AHP can synthesize various sets of criteria in the preferred elicitation of the type and the cultivated area. It is concluded that AHP can be used to aggregate preferences in order to obtain a group decision, improve understanding of the choice problem, accommodate multiple objectives and increase transparency and credibility in decision making by actively involving relevant criteria in the crop planning. Further research could include a useful extension of the methodology, which could be devised by using other multi‐objective methods and incorporating fuzzy set theory. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.