A GIS Decision Support System for Crop Cultivation Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego, 2016 1 A GIS Decision Support System for Crop Cultivation Full paper Watanyoo Suksa-ngiam Claremont Graduate University Watanyoo.suksa-ngiam@cgu.edu J. Kimani Mbugua Claremont Graduate University Joseph.mbugua@cgu.edu Samir Chatterjee Claremont Graduate University Samir.chatterjee@cgu.edu Abstract Most farmers in Northeastern Thailand leave their land fallow during the dry season because they do not have adequate information on which dry-season crops to grow where. Without adequate information and guidelines for dry season farming, farmers in Northeastern Thailand will continue to leave their farms fallow. This research creates a decision support tool that helps farmers identify the best-suited dry season crops for their specific areas, and provides them with information on the best practices for growing the identified crops, and marketing information for the crops. GIS and remote sensing literature is used to develop a solution to the problem. Two experts who evaluated the algorithm that the decision support tool is based on indicated that the algorithm is useful and logical. However, the experts recommended that an accuracy test to validate the decision support tool be undertaken before it is introduced to Thai farmers. Keywords Decision support system, crop suitability, Thai farmers, design science research Introduction Food crises are listed by the World Economic Forum (2015) as one of the most highly impactful risks that the world is likely to experience in the near future. By 2050, the world needs to produce 50% more food than what is currently being produced for the projected world population of about the 9 billion people (The World Bank, 2015). Consequently, the issue of world food production is one of the urgent global problems which governments, public and non-public organizations, and farmers must address. Most of Thailand rice, particularly Jasmine rice, is produced in the northeastern region. In 2003, for example, approximately 69.2% of agricultural land use in the region was dedicated to rice cultivation (National Statistical Office, 2003). However, the yield of rice per area is comparatively low when compared with other regions in Thailand (Titapiwatanakun, 2012). In addition, most farmers in this region rely on rain and thus can only grow rice for one season in a year (Chainuvati & Athipanan, 2001). Rice yields per hectare in the region vary, depending on the cultivation system used. The highest yield is achieved under irrigation systems during the wet-season, followed by the yields under rain-fed-only systems during the wet-season. Lastly, the lowest yield of rice occurs under irrigation systems during the dry season (Thanawong, Perret, & Basset-Mens, 2014). To earn a living and provide for their families, farmers in the Northeastern region of Thailand need to grow crops on their farms throughout the year. Unfortunately, during the dry season the majority of farmers in this region cannot grow rice because they lack the means to access water for irrigation (Thanawong, Perret, & Basset-Mens, 2014). Thus most farmers are forced to leave their farms fallow during the dry season and move to construction sites in the urban areas in search of jobs (Craig & Pisone, 1985). brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)