Emprego do método multicritério de análise hierárquica (AHP) como apoio a tomada de decisão na seleção de colhedoras de arroz irrigado

Abstract

In an environment where costs and investments are growing more and more, as is the case in the agricultural sector, wrong decisions can lead from reducing the profitability of agribusiness, to irreversible damage to it. Within this perspective, when it comes to the production of irrigated rice, the machines used for harvesting the crop demand a high acquisition value, mainly due to the fact that they include numerous mechanisms and technologies in their composition. Thus, it is essential to have a thorough analysis of its specifications by the producers, in order to find the machine that best meets the needs of their property. Based on this problem, this study aimed to enable the use of the Multicriteria Hierarchical Analysis Method (AHP), as a decision-making process, involving multiple criteria, for the selection of grain harvesting machines, based on the specification’s techniques most pertinent to the irrigated rice producer (Oryza Sativa L.), from the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Among the multicriteria methods, AHP has been widely applied for analysis of preferences in complex problems with several criteria, because it is considered easy to use. The method provides a systematic decision process, using various criteria, based on the subjective preferences of the decision makers. Thus, based on research on the technical specifications of grain harvesters, taken from leaflets and folders of the manufacturing companies and based on the qualitative needs of the culture in the region, it was possible to carry out the systematization of the models of the machines. For that, the specifications were considered as criteria, being subsequently compared pair by pair, according to the proposed method. The application of the AHP method allowed the hierarchical models of grain harvesters to be ranked, presenting the alternative “Harvester 3” as the best ranked, based on the decision maker's preferences in the parity comparisons between alternatives and criteria. The use of the proposed methodology presented satisfactory results within the objective to which it was proposed. However, the opinion of a single decision maker is not characterized as an “absolute truth”, since there is a high degree of subjectivity in these judgments.