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Modelling socioeconomic influences on agroforestry adoption using a rule-based decision support system

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Applications of Systems Approaches at the Farm and Regional Levels Volume 1

Part of the book series: Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development ((SAAD,volume 5))

Abstract

This paper describes AGFADOPT, a rule-based decision-support system designed to model some of the social and economic factors that influence small farmer adoption of tree-based innovations. The system is designed to help technically trained personnel incorporate social and economic criteria into project planning and implementation. To create AGFADOPT, information obtained from the literature was used to develop a set of general rules that simulate farmer decision making regarding the adoption of two tree-based technologies: fruit tree orchards and contour hedgerows. These rules were combined in the expert system using a yes/no decision tree framework. Preliminary verification of the system prototype using data from the Dominican Republic and evaluation of the system by potential users suggest that it is logically consistent, reasonably accurate (83% for tree orchard; 68% for contour hedgerows) and potentially useful.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy and Soil Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1910 East-West Rd, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    M. P. Robotham

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  1. M. P. Robotham
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines

    P. S. Teng

  2. Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    M. J. Kropff

  3. Research Institute for Agrobiology & Soil Fertility (AB-DLO), Wageningen, The Netherlands

    H. F. M. ten Berge

  4. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    J. B. Dent

  5. University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Philippines

    F. P. Lansigan

  6. Wageningen Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    H. H. van Laar

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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Robotham, M.P. (1997). Modelling socioeconomic influences on agroforestry adoption using a rule-based decision support system. In: Teng, P.S., Kropff, M.J., ten Berge, H.F.M., Dent, J.B., Lansigan, F.P., van Laar, H.H. (eds) Applications of Systems Approaches at the Farm and Regional Levels Volume 1. Systems Approaches for Sustainable Agricultural Development, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5416-1_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5416-1_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6278-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5416-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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