Analytical Hierarchy Process for Automated Fertigation Blending System in Reducing Nutrient and Water Losses

Fertigation is one of the agricultural methods of farming techniques which is can produce high productivity crops and efficiency in using resources. This research attempt to design and select the best criteria for an Automated Fertigation Blending System (AFBS) for reducing the eutrophication problem. Eutrophication is caused by the excessive use of nutrients and water runoff into the fresh water. The criteria had been selected based on the customer requirements (CRs) from the survey. The CRs and ECs are the two criteria for the four best design alternatives using the House of Quality (HoQ) selection method. A new methodological framework that integrated the design optional consisting of an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was developed. The AHP was developed to evaluate the selection criteria in each design developed by using a pairwise-comparison matrix. Seven criteria were implied in selecting the best design, covering ease of installation, compact and portable, safety, low equipment maintenance cost, user friendly, durability, and reduce nutrient and water runoff. The best AFBS is Design 4 with the highest performance and higher score 73.7 % because of its safety, durability, user friendly, compact and portable, and reduces nutrient excess and water runoff. Conclusively, this proposed framework provides the decision to select criteria and ECs for future AFBS without an extensive experiment by saving time, and money, and reducing the negative impact on sustainability.