Planning rice cultivation in a large plot agricultural system

Abstract

This research aimed to study the approach of the community toward the decision to grow rice and economic crops, including appropriate resource allocation for use on a farm under a large plot agricultural system. The study areas were in Phan district, Chiang Rai province, Thailand, and the data were collected from a sampling of 400 field agriculturalists. The method used was to develop a mathematical model for growing crops with multi-objectives and in multi-periods, together with an agriculturist representative and experts in multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM). This was to prioritize the importance of alternative crops and find the appropriate allocation of the resources to achieve the targeted goal. The results showed that agriculturists prioritized most toward the criteria for growing Japanese rice with a weight of 0.179 Kg., followed by transplanted rice, transplanted glutinous rice, garlic, sown paddy rice, and sown glutinous paddy rice, respectively. The study’s results also showed that the price fluctuation of the crop products resulted in more use of land and labor in order to increase the production to compensate for the low price, and this also resulted in the higher opportunity cost of growing transplanted rice. Therefore, growing transplanted rice during in season planting was considered the most effective way, while during the off season, either garlic or Japanese rice could be grown. A collective pattern for planning for using resources together in large plot agricultural areas, together with a clear marketing target would bring about effective use of the resources and reduce the risk in revenue from the fluctuation in prices and uncertainty of yields from drought. Moreover, technology development to solve the problem of the lack of labor would be deemed an important approach toward the enhancement of the competitiveness of agriculturists in the future as well.