This paper describes the selection of assessment criteria to assess agricultural water management schemes for on-farm ponds to support sustainable rain-fed agriculture, guided by the New Theory of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.The candidate set of criteria was obtained from several international and national sources related to sustainable rain-fed agriculture and the New Theory.The criteria were reviewed and modified by the expert team based on the goals of the New Theory in order to define an initial site-specific set of criteria that conform with the context of socio-topographical conditions of Thailand.
The team screened, assessed, and prioritized the criteria using three multiple bl2420pt criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques- ranking, rating and pairwise comparisons- in order to attain the final locality set of the assessment criteria.The process resulted in selection of a set of three criteria, with 15 sub-criteria.This final locality set of criteria was used to conduct a sustainability cortech sonic-flo gloves assessment of agricultural water management schemes of on-farm ponds.
Criterion 1 (The pursuit of self-reliant agriculture based on limited agricultural land and water resources) was given the highest weighting, followed by Criterion 3 (The pursuit of sustainable rain-fed agriculture) and Criterion 2 (Self-sufficiency of household daily consumption and income generation).At the sub-criterion level, sub-criterion 1.1 (Land use efficiency) and sub-criterion 1.
5 (Water use efficiency) of Criterion 1; sub-criterion 2.1 (Food self-sufficiency) of Criterion 2; and sub-criterion 3.1 (Mixed farming) of Criterion 3 were given the highest weightings.
Further research is needed to examine the applicability and reliability of the assessment criteria in field situations.