Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(Dorward and Chirwa
2011
). So the location of agricultural input suppliers must
be close to the farms to accelerate the input supply for them.
Agricultural mechanization includes the use of tools, implements and machines
for agricultural land development, crop production, harvesting, and preparation for
storage, storage, and on-farm processing. The manufacture, distribution, repair,
maintenance, management and utilization of agricultural tools, implements and
machines is covered under this discipline with regard as to how to supply mecha-
nization inputs to the farmer in an efficient and effective manner. (Lak and Almasi
2011
). This service type needs to be near to the farms, because of high transporta-
tion cost for agricultural machinery from service provider to customer's farm.
The basic indicators for success of a demand-driven advisory service system
in agriculture are: farmers have access to agricultural advisory services, farmers
use the advisory services, farmers have increased income from agricultural pro-
duction, and finally greater choice and competition among agricultural advisers.
The particular objective of supporting agricultural advisory services to the farms is
to improve the agricultural income and productivity consequently (Chipeta
2006
).
The limited access to financial resources may lead to several problems in agri-
cultural production such as: disturb the time of farming operations (input sup-
ply, planting, trading and etc.), decrease the input quality and etc. So increase the
access to financial services including loan and insurance can improve the produc-
tivity in agriculture.
Agricultural facilities may have different topological structures. Bojic et al. (
2013
)
suggest an allocation model to solve biomass power plant locations. Their model
was created from nodes and arcs (network structure). The nodes represent primary
storages and potential power plant locations. The arcs represent the existing trans-
port connections between the nodes. An example of discrete topological structure is
Thompson et al. (
2013
) which use Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis
to create and map a data layer of polygons that indicate all of the potential locations
where, based on suitability criteria, anaerobic digester system can be installed.
Location analysis in planning for regional development can provide a framework
for investigating service accessibility problems, analyzing previous locational
decisions and generating alternatives to suggest more efficient service systems
(Farrow et al.
2011
). Many studies have used this concept for public health facilities
(Teixeira and Antunes
2006
), but few studies have been done in solving problems
of input firms in the agricultural context (Farrow et al.
2011
). Poor physical acces-
sibility to both private and public sector retailers increases costs for farmers. So it is
necessary to pinpoint underserved areas and identify optimal sites for locating new
agro-dealers (Farrow et al.
2011
).
1.2 Multi-attribute Decision Making in Location Problem
The distinguishing feature of the MADM problems is that there are usually a
limited number of predetermined alternatives. These alternatives satisfy each objec-
tive in a specified level. There are many techniques, which are used to solve the
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