An Application of Multi-Criteria Decision Making Incorporating Stochastic Production Frontiers: A Case Study of Organic Coffee Production in Kona, Hawaii

Abstract

In this paper, we develop a land use allocation model to search for the optimal ratio of organic (nonchemical) and conventional (chemical‐use) farming acreage. The idea is to incorporate stochastic production frontiers (SPFs) to a multi‐criteria decision making (MCDM) model as technological constraints. The objectives of this model are to maximize net returns, minimize chemical inputs, and optimize organic inputs given environmental and ecological concerns. The compromise solutions suggest the desirable ratio of organic and conventional farming acreage and targetable operations for each farming system to improve regional welfare. This method was applied to the Kona coffee belt, Hawaii, and the analysis determined the optimal proportion of organic and conventional Kona coffee farming fields as 0.265 to 0.735 in terms of optimizing community benefits or regional welfare.

Multiattribute Evaluation of Organic and Inorganic Agricultural Food Investments Using Fuzzy Topsis

“…Siciliano (2009) studies a multi-criteria evaluation of farming practices under soil degradation in Southern Tuscany, Italy. Masuda et al (2010) present an application for organic coffee production in Kona, Hawaii by multicriteria decision-making. Castellini et al (2012) analyze the sustainability of different poultry production systems.…”