GROUND WATER RESOURCE SUSTAINABILITY IN AGRICULTURE: A MULTIPLE CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS (MCDA) APPROACH

V.K. PAL¹*, S.C. VERMA^2
1Department of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, B.R.D.P.G. College, Deoria, 274001, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, 273009, India
²Department of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, B.R.D.P.G. College, Deoria, 274001, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, 273009, India
* Corresponding Author : ecovijay25914@gmail.com

Received : 23-10-2019     Accepted : 13-12-2019     Published : 15-12-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 23       Pages : 9266 - 9269
Int J Agr Sci 11.23 (2019):9266-9269

Keywords : Likert scale, Multi criteria decision, Linear programming, Decision criteria, Irrigation water
Academic Editor : Dr Pradeep Mishra, Hakan Salci, Jyothi T. V., Dr Narendra Swaroop, Singh Ajit Kumar, Medini Ibrahim
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, B.R.D.P.G. College, Deoria, 274001, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, 273009, Uttar Pradesh, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Water is one of the scarcest resources due to increasing population while agricultural growth depends upon the availability water resource potential in India that includes both the surface and ground water potential. Objective of study was to find out major decision criteria practiced by the farmers to use the ground water and develop the optimum plan by using ground water through tubewell irrigation water for 54 randomly selected farmers from Nainital district of Uttarakhand. Likert scale technique and t-statistics was used to find out the most relevant decision-criteria practiced by the farmers while linear programming was used to obtain optimum plans under various decision criteria. Maximization of total gross margin, minimization of risk, minimization of total labor use and minimization of total working capital emerged as main decisions criteria on which farmers took decision for using tubewell irrigation water in the study area. Total gross margin was increased by 3.3% while risk value, labour use and working capital were decreased with 6.01%, 30.23% and 32.30% in the optimum plan over existing plan.

1. Central Water Commission (2000) Country, Report of the Standing Sub-Committee (BP Directorate) August, 2000.
2. Gassion R. (1973) Journal of Agricultural Economics, 24(3), 521-537.
3. Harper W.H. and Eastman, C. (1980) American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 62(4), 742-747.
4. Willock J., Deary I.J., Jones G.E., Gibson G.J., Mcgregor M.J., Sutherland A., Dent J.B., Mogan O. and Andgrieve R. (1999) Journal of Agricultural Economics, 50(2), 286-303.
5. Rehman P. and Romero C. (1993) Agricultural Systems, 41(3), 239-255.
6. Kotchen M., Reiling S. (2000) Ecological Economics, 32, 93-107.