A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach to agricultural production planning with energy and environmental considerations : the case of a central Indian village | |
| Author | Bohra, Chandra Prakash |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no. AE-98-02 |
| Subject(s) | Multiple criteria decision making Agricultural development projects--India |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The overall objective of the present investigation is to evolve a methodology to formulate a agricultural development plan with energy and environmental considerations for a selected village in Central India. The specific objectives includes: assessment of present patterns of energy resource consumption for agriculture under different farming systems and possible constrains in planning, development of relationship/indicators for energy and carbon di oxide emissions for agriculture sector based on available data and application of a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, to planning of the agricultural production system with the independent optimization of private and societal objectives. This study is limited to a central Indian village (ISLAMNAGAR) near Bhopal, India. The data were collected from statistically selected samples of the region, on agricultural resource use for crop production activities. The data has been collected to assess crop economics, energy resource use and environmental aspects under different farming systems and on various constraints related to agricultural resource planning. A multiple criteria decision making approach i.e compromise programming has been used to determine optimum agricultural resource plans from the perspectives of both the farmers and the state. The two plans, indicate the conflict in desired objectives by the farmers and the state and helps to understand the aspirations of one another, which will help in better policy and planning decisions. The study reveals that the major private (farmer's) objectives in agricultural resource planing are maximization of net returns, maximization of permanent and family labor use, minimization of demand for capital and maximization of exportable surplus. The application of compromise programming resulted in a plan with increase in the net returns by 35.5 %, increase in permanent + family labor use by 50 % and increase in exportable surplus by about 87.6% from the present situation. Environmentally there is net absorption of 106. 80 . tonnes of carbon into the system. The plan prepared to optimize the preferred objectives, of state policy makers, of net returns, maximization of total labor use, minimization of commercial energy use and maximization of food grain production, resulted in a compromise plan with increase in net returns by 33.4 %, increase in labor use by 50 % and an increase in foodgrain production by 11.2 % from the current levels of crop production. Eighty three percent of additional energy demand is derived from non-commercial energy resources. The net carbon deposited in the system is 113.64 tonnes, thus indicating a positive improvement in the environment. Overall, a potential tool of MCDM has been explored to develop compromise plans to meet various objectives. The work indicate that MCDM techniques can be successfully employed in developing crop area and energy resource plans for a area. The study as planned has tried to focus and highlight the role of energy resource and its efficacy in sustenance and pollution reduction for the coming future in such transitional economies. The aim is to sustain these changes by efficient utilization of energy resources. Therefore, this study is a step forward in energy and environment based planning approaches and can be extended to develop optimum agricultural production and resource use strategies, under a given set of situations, besides energy and environmental focus. |
| Year | 1998 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (Former title: Department of Food Agriculture, and BioResources (DFAB)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Agricultural and Food Engineering (AE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Salokhe, Vilas M. ;Shrestha, Ram M. ; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Gee-Clough, David ;Annachhatre, Ajit ;Chancellor, William J.; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1998 |