CASSAVA FOLIAGE HARVESTING MACHINE SELECTION DECISION MAKING FACTORS: THE CASE STUDY IN THAILAND

Machine and tooling selection are very important for agriculture economy which base on labor intensive that increase time usage and cost. Cassava foliage harvesting selection is very challenging in choosing the machine since it will be the key importance to change the cassava supply chain that cannot bring cassava foliage to use in the commercial way. The framework of this study start from the cassava farmers' aspect, link with factors concerned from literature review and then grouping the suitable criteria and sub-criteria. The specific questionnaire was conducted with the representative of the cassava farmer, agriculture machine maker and the expert user in cassava foliage. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to set the hierarchy structure of the criteria, rating and prioritization. The results of the study illustrate the machine factors and cost for cassava foliage harvesting machine selection decision making. The prioritized factors are durability, low cost of harvesting, safety, technology and quality of output respectively. It can be used not only cassava foliage harvesting machine selection case but also the other agriculture machine or equipment