Selected Appropriate Decision Support Tool For Sustainable Rain-fed Agriculture Referenced To The New Theory Of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great: A Case Study Of Khao Wong District, Kalasin Province Of Thailand

Abstract

Thailand is an agricultural country of which almost 80% of the total agricultural land is rain-fed. An on-farm pond, which is a self-reliant small-scale water source for harvesting the rainwater to be used for the whole year, becomes radical for farmers in this area. These farmers need to select the agricultural water management scheme which uses limited rainwater harvested in the on-farm pond efficiently and productively to fulfill their household needs, which will lead to sustainable rain-fed agriculture. Therefore, the study aimed to select an appropriate decision support tool for sustainable rain-fed agriculture referenced to the New Theory of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great. This research applied mixed methods for collecting data, including desk review, field visit, workshops for the expert judgement, structured interview, and self-administrated questionnaire. The conceptual prototype of the tool was also tested for its usability with the sample group in the unirrigated area of Song Plueai sub-district, Khao Wong district, Kalasin province, which was the study area of this research.

The result of the study was the selected appropriate decision support tool which was purposely designed for farmers in the rain-fed area. Components of the tool, including problem statement, requirements, goal, assessment criteria, and alternative schemes were developed based on their agricultural operational objective as well as the concept of sustainable agriculture and the New Theory in order to make the tool compatible with topographical and sociological conditions of Thai rain-fed agriculture. Alternative schemes were evaluated by assessment criteria through the application of the AHP technique. The preferred scheme was selected and validated. The resulted showed that the preferred scheme was able to balance farm water demands and supply, promote self-reliant agriculture, ensure household self-sufficiency, and enhance sustainable rain-fed agriculture. The result of the field usability testing showed that the overall attributes of the conceptual prototype of the tool was good with the total score 4.26 out of 5 points. Attributes with the highest score included decision support, interest, applicability, and concept presentation. While, attributes with the lowest score were accuracy, ease of use, and learnability. Therefore, these attributes should be improved to enhance the tool functionality and user acceptance in the future.