Selection of Appropriate Trees for Agroforestry System by Applying Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Technique

Abstract

Agroforestry is a land use practices that are intentional combined trees with crops and/ or livestock. This combination of agroforestry created multiple benefits both economic and environment. However, decision for selection of agroforestry components is a critical in decision-making processes since it has involved various factors. It is therefore required an appropriate tool to accommodate the different goal and criteria in order to determine appropriate tree component for agroforestry system practiced by small-scale farmers. The research was conducted in Thoong Khorn village, Oan sub-district, Pua district, Nan province. The total population of a village was 134 households and 103 samples were randomly selected for interview.

This research aimed to determine appropriate tree for agroforestry system in sloping sites. In so doing, researcher employed Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as a tool to analyze the data. The AHP allows researcher to assess the relative importance of multiple criteria and multiple alternatives against a given goal in an intuitive manner. The result revealed that more than half of samples (58.3%) preferred to plant trees with their upland maize fields. The most critical factors influencing farmers’ decision were market availability (weigh = 0.269), security of land ownership and capital availability and household’s economic status (weigh = 0.243) respectively. In addition, the result shown the most appropriate tree for agroforestry system was Hevea brasiliensis (44.8%), which rank higher than Tectona grandis (31.7%) and Nephelium lappaceum (23.5%).