DMTIOLA: decision making tool for identification of optimal location for aquaculture farming development

Decision making tool called Decision Making Tool for Identification of Optimal Location in Aqua farming development was developed using Visual Basic programming language for identification of optimal location for aquaculture farming development. Twenty-four input criteria to the tool were categorized into six broad heads of main-criteria namely: water (10 sub-criteria), soil (5 sub-criteria), support (2 sub-criteria), infrastructure (3 sub-criteria), input (1 sub-criterion), and risk factor (3 sub-criteria). In this tool, the optimal location was identified based on the objective function, which was derived from the combination of rank sum, pair-wise comparison, and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution methods. Based on the objective function values, alternatives (or aqua farms) were ranked in descending order in a table. In order to validate the developed tool, the same alternatives were ranked in descending order according to the observed average yield value per hectare (ha) for the last three crops. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to assess the correlation between ranks obtained by the tool and ranks obtained based on average yield. It showed with 99% confidence that a significant correlation exists between ranks obtained by the tool and ranks obtained based on average yield. Developed tool appeared to be confident and robust in proof-of-concept application for aquaculture farming development in Kalla mandal with reference to shrimp farms, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India.