Analysis of the Problems Relationship in Farming Systems by

Analysis of the Problems Relationship in Farming Systems by Dematel-Method Ryuichi Yamada1, Nguyen Quang Tuyen2, Le Canh Dung2, Toshiyuki Monma3, and Vo Van Tuan2 1: Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8686 Japan 2 : Mekong Delta Farming Systems Research and Development Institute, Cantho University, Cantho, Vietnam 3 : Tokyo University of Agriculture Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8502 Japan Abstract In this paper, we analyze the relationship between problems in each component of farming systems by Dematel-Method in target area. We got the following results. Firstly, the problems concerning the knowledge, adoption, and effects of VAC systems are centered problems. Secondly, lack of resources and capital prevent VAC systems both from having economic effect and from being adopted by farmers. Thirdly, lack of information and knowledge is the most influential problem which gives broad effects to other problems. Fourthly, as the technology problems, fish growth problem is centered problem from the viewpoint of by-products exchange. Citrus greening disease is centered problem from the viewpoint of capital accumulation. 1. Introduction In the Mekong Delta, the farming systems combining various crops, livestock, and fish are popular. When we study these farming systems, it is important to conduct diagnosis of total farming systems. Without total picture of farming systems, we will fail our research. We can have possibilities to improve farming systems by making clear the relationship of various complicated problems and by finding out centered problems. Based on this point of view, in this paper, we will analyze the relationship between problems in each component of farming systems of Tan Phu Thanh Village which is the representative of irrigated alluvial soil area of the Mekong Delta. 2. Methods We will use Dematel-Method. Dematel-Method stands for Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory. It is suitable method to analyze complicated relationship. The characteristic of this method 1 is to show the relationship with certain scores by using matrix operation. The relationship is cause-effect relationship. Another characteristic is to grasp not only direct effect but also indirect effect. We show the procedure of Dematel analysis in figure1. In this figure, there is one example about relationship with 4 factors (a ~ d). At first, based on the relationship, we get matrix Xd, , which is standardized into matrix X. Final matrix T which include total effects is obtained as follows (Monma 1996): -1 T = X (1-X) 3 a 2 1 a c 2 b 3 0 0 0 c 1 2 0 0 d 0 3 2 0 b 3 d a Xd= b c d 0 0 0 0 a X= b c d T= a b c d a 0 0 0 0 b c d a b c d 0 0 0 0 0.6 0.2 0 0 0.4 0.6 0 0 0.4 0 0 0 0.6 0.44 0.54 0 0.4 0.76 0 0 0.4 0 0 0 Figure 1 Procedure of Dematel Analysis We show Dematel-questionnaire in figure2. We pick one problem on the top, then ask respondents to answer whether it is problem or not. If it’s problem, they have to answer how big direct effect, the problem give to other problems. We take same procedure from first problem to last problem. 1= I don't know VAC system. How big problem is the above problem from the view point of improving farming systems. 0=no problem 1=a little bit problem 3=very big problem 2=problem If you answer "no problem", please go to question 2. In case of others, please answer following question. How much does the above problem give effect to following problems directly ? Big 2 3 4 5 I know VAC system, but it's difficult to adopt VAC system. I adopted VAC system, but the economic effects of VAC system is not much. I adopted VAC system, but the environmental effects of VAC system is not much. There are lack of resources and capital. Middle Small No 38 39 40 41 I don't know the optimum density, how to mix each fish. I don't know how to identify and cope with fish disease. Flood is serious problem. Greening disease of citrus is serious. Figure 2 Dematel Questionnaire 2 3. Results and Discussions We conducted RRA, TN-Method step1 to identify problems which exist in farming systems of Tan Phu Thanh Village. Based on that, we conducted KJ-Method to summarize problems. As the results, we got 41 problems. About these problems, we conducted Dematel-Method. In case of TN-Method step 1, it’s not difficult for farmers to answer. But, in case of Dematel-Method, it’s difficult for farmers to answer. Especially if the numbers of problems are too many, farmers will get confused. So, we asked extension workers and researchers who are quite familiar with the farming systems of Tan Phu Thanh Village. Total numbers of respondents are 10. The main points of the cause-effect relationship is as follows. Firstly, as we can show in table1 the problems concerning the knowledge, adoption, and effects of VAC systems have higher score in degree of center. Degree of center is obtained by adding degree to give effect and degree to get effect. It means these problems are centered problems. Among these, the problem with highest degree of center is “3. I adopted VAC systems, but the economic effects of VAC systems is not much”(Later, we call it problem3). The degree of center is 3.666. The degree to give effect and the degree to get effect are 1.740 (third rank), 1.927 (first rank) respectively. Table 1 The Results of Dematel-Method Problem No. & Contents of Problems 3 5 2 21 23 20 4 37 1 18 6 14 10 22 40 19 41 30 12 17 I adopted VAC system, but the economic effects of VAC system is not much. There are lack of resources and capital. I know VAC system, but it's difficult to adopt VAC system. It costs a lot to buy inputs and to invest. I don't have enough opportunity to get information and to learn about technology. It's difficult to produce high quality products and to do processing. I adopted VAC system, but the environmental effects of VAC system is not much. It's difficult to grow fish well. I don't know VAC system. Products price is lower and fluctuate. I don't know what kind of crop to grow and how to combine them. Livestock wastes cause environment ploblems such as bad water quality, bad smell. It's difficult to adopt or improve dike-ditch system It is difficult to borrow money. Flood is serious problem. There is lack of marketing capacity such as marketing group, transportation, and facilities. Degree to give effect Degree to get effect Degree Rank of center Greening disease of citrus is serious. It's difficult to faciliate the harvesting time of fruit tree. I don't know the optimum amount of input of excreta into ditch and pond. Using chemicals has damage to human health and to fish in the river. 1.740 1.779 1.548 1.248 1.807 1.058 1.126 0.845 1.717 0.939 0.959 0.735 0.712 0.744 0.805 0.912 0.814 0.643 0.731 0.720 1.927 1.443 1.437 1.610 0.912 1.354 1.246 1.410 0.485 1.002 0.853 0.993 0.959 0.842 0.759 0.626 0.702 0.865 0.723 0.725 3.666 3.222 2.985 2.857 2.719 2.412 2.372 2.255 2.202 1.942 1.811 1.728 1.672 1.585 1.564 1.538 1.516 1.508 1.455 1.445 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 We show the relationship between problem3 and other problems in figure3. In this figure, we show the score of degree to give effect and to get effect on each arrow. As we can see in this figure, the problems which get much more effect from problem3 are “5. There are lack of resources and capital”, “21. It cost 3 a lot to buy inputs and to invest”, and “ 20. It’s difficult to produce high quality products and do processing”. This means that it has difficult to invest for material inputs and processing due to small capital accumulation caused by little effects of VAC systems. On the other hands, the problems which give much more effects to problem3 are “ 5. There are lack of resources and capital”, “23. I don’t have enough opportunity to get information and to learn about technology”, “1. I don’t know VAC systems”. It means that lack of resources and capital as well as lack of information and knowledge especially 23. I don t have enough opportunity ’ to get information and to learn technology. 21. It cost a lot to buy inputs and invest. 69 5. There are lack of resources and capital. 68 87 82 87 69 3. Economic effect of VAC systems is not much. 64 86 1. I don't know VAC systems. 20. It’ s difficult to produce high quality products and do processing. Figure 3 Relationship with problem3 prevents VAC systems from having economic effects. In figure 4, we show the technology problems which give much more effect to problem3. According to this figure, the problems such as “20. It’s difficult to produce high quality products and to do processing”, “41. Greening disease of citrus is serious”, “10. It’s difficult to adopt or improve dike-ditch system”, “33. There are serious pig diseases and death of piglet” mainly cause poor economic effect of VAC systems. 20. It’s difficult to produce high quality products . and to do processing 41. Greening disease of citrus is serious. 69 30. It’s difficult to facilitate the harvesting time of fruit tree. 64 57 56 56 10. It’s difficult to adopt or improve dike-ditch system 53 3. Economic effects of VAC systems is not much. 55 37. It’s difficult to grow fish well. 56 33. There are serious pig diseases and death of piglet. Figure 4 Technology Problems to Give Effect to Problem3 4 Secondly, as we can see in table1, socio-economic problems such as lack of resources/capital, lack of information/knowledge, and difficulties concerning price/marketing are also centered problems. Among these, “5. There are lack of resources and capital” has higher degree of center. The degree of center is 3.222 (second rank). The degree to give effect and the degree to get effect are 1.779 (second rank), 1.443 (third rank) respectively. We show the problems which get effect from problem 5 in figure5. 3. Economic effect of VAC systems is not much. 87 5. There are lack of resources and capital. 82 78 2. I know VAC systems, but It’s difficult to adopt VAC systems 21. It cost a lot to buy inputs and invest. Figure 5 The Problems to get effect from problem5 According to figure 5, the problems which problem 5 give effect to are “3. Economic effects of VAC systems is not much”, which is followed by “21. It cost a lot to buy inputs and to invest”, and “2. I know VAC systems, but it’s difficult to adopt VAC systems”. This means that lack of resources prevents VAC systems not only from having economic effects, but also from being adopted by farmers. Because, when farmers adopt VAC systems, it is necessary to invest a lot amount for dike-ditch, pond, pig pen, etc. It is “23. I don’t have enough opportunity to get information and to learn about technology” that has highest degree to give effect (1.807). This problems give effects to various problems in term of both technology and management. Among 41 problems, there are 17 problems which get the most effect from problems23. As the technology problems to get effect from problems23 are “37. It’s difficult to grow fish well”, “20. It’s difficult to produce high quality products and to do processing”, “30. It’s difficult to facilitate the harvesting time of fruit tree”, “14. Livestock wastes cause environment problems such as bad water quality, bad smell”, “33. There are serious pig diseases and death of piglet”, and “39. I don’t know how to identify and cope with fish disease”. On the background of this, there exists the situation that extension activity is not active due to lack of budget and manpower. Thirdly, among technology problems in each component of farming systems, it is “37. It’s difficult to grow fish well”, “41. Greening disease of citrus is serious”, and “30. It’s difficult to facilitate the harvesting time of fruit tree” that have higher degree of center. The reason why problem37 has higher degree of center is that fish component is connected with other components such as pig, fruit, and rice through by-products exchange in pond and ditch, so that problems are connected with each other. On the 5 other hands, as we can see in figure6, the problems which problem41 give effect to are “3. Economic effects of VAC systems is not much”, “21. It cost a lot to buy inputs and to invest”, and “5. There are lack of resources and capital”. This means that the decrease of income from citrus due to greening disease is one of main factors to decrease the farm household capital for invest. 3. Economic effect of VAC systems is not much. 57 41. Greening disease of citrus is serious. 53 47 5. There are lack of resources and capital. 21. It cost a lot to buy inputs and invest. Figure 6 The Problems to get effect from problem41 4. Conclusion So far, we have grasped the cause-effect relationship inside farming systems by applying Dematel-Method. Finally, we can conclude as follows. 1) The knowledge, adoption, and effects of VAC systems are centered problems. Among these, “Economic effect of VAC system is not much” is the most centered problem. Technology problems such as difficulty to produce high quality products and to do processing, greening disease of citrus, difficulty to adopt or improve dike-ditch system, and pig disease and piglet death cause poor economic effect of VAC systems. 2) Lack of resources and capital prevent VAC systems both from having effects, and from being adopted by farmers. 3) Lack of information and knowledge is the most influential problem which gives broad effects to various other problems. It gives effect to the technology problems such as fish disease and growth problem, high quality production and processing problems, the problems of livestock wastes disposal, pig diseases and piglet death. 4) As the technological problems in each component, the problem of fish growth is centered problem from the viewpoint of by-products exchange. And, citrus greening disease is also centered problem from viewpoint of capital accumulation. Literature Cited Monma T. 1996. TN-Method - Rural Revitalization Support System-Case Study. Tohoku Nougyou Kenkyu Sousho 1: pp.32-33 6