Arabian Journal of Geosciences (2020) 13:144

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-5097-2

ORIGINAL PAPER

Location-based planning for sustainable agro-processing industries

using land suitability assessment and DANP-VIKOR technique
Hamed Amiri 1 & Sharareh Pourebrahim 1 & Afshin Danehkar 1 & Mazlin Bin Mokhtar 2

Received: 21 February 2017 / Accepted: 8 January 2020

# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2020

Abstract
Establishing agro-processing industries in areas with suitable ecological potentials can help to avoid waste of resources. Lack of
process industries, along with the transportation difficulties and market regulations, has led to farmers abandoning their crops due
to the absence of an adequate market, and consumers are faced with losses due to the declining supply of products and price
increases. This paper aims to determine the procedure to locate suitable process industries based on ecological resources and
agricultural development criteria. Agricultural development needs a paradigm shift to an ecological intensification approach to
understand the behavior of agro-processing industries on the environment. Ecological suitability assessment of the agro-
processing development is considered as the foundation for prioritization, applying some critical ecological criteria. For the
socioeconomic, a combination of DEMATEL-ANP techniques is applied. Priority assessment of agro-industries development
carried out using VIKOR. By overlaying the appropriate layers of socioeconomic on ecologically suitable areas, suitable
locations for agro-process industries are obtained. The results have emphasized that sustainable land-use planning for agro-
processing industries should be based on ecological requirements, and suitable areas located in some zones with suitable
infrastructures as well as ecological qualification.

Keywords Land suitability . Environmental assessment . Sustainable land-use planning . Agro-processing industries . VIKOR .
DANP

Introduction regulations each year, has led to farmers abandoning their

crops due to the absence of an adequate market. Extensive
Each year, agricultural products are destroyed for various rea- farming has established, without paying any attention to land
sons, including imperfect markets, overproduction, and an capability and process industries, and it is all constrained and
imbalance between demand and supply. Lack of process in- mostly established based on the cheapness of land and not
dustries, along with the transportation difficulties and market based on the principles of sustainability. Besides, agricultural
process industries should create added value in agriculture,
increasing the income level of farmers, raising agricultural
Responsible Editor: Abdullah M. Al-Amri
productivity and an increase in industrial employment in rural
areas (Ali and Suleiman 2018). Moreover, correctly position-
* Sharareh Pourebrahim
sh_pourebrahim@ut.ac.ir ing the process industries according to ecological principles
will lead to the efficient use of the land resources and help the
Hamed Amiri process of balanced development of the agriculture sector and
Hamedamiri26@yahoo.com thereby ensuring its stability. Mentioned challenge requires
Mazlin Bin Mokhtar the formation of some infrastructure in the production and
mazlin@ukm.edu.my processing of agricultural productions and fundamental alter-
ing of the agro-processing industries sector (Yatim et al.
1
Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural 2017). Locating of the agricultural process industries is how
Resources, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources, University
of Tehran, Karaj, Iran
we use the factors and variables affecting the production and
2
supply, in order to determine the best location that can ensure
Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), National
University Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
long-term use of the land without damaging its resources. In
 144 Page 2 of 11
addition to indicators which have been considered in various
studies, such as access to raw materials, market, transporta-
tion, and fuel consumption, ecological capabilities of the land
in the long-term sustainable production and lack of damage to
its resources are also very effective but from an economic
point of view, not much attention has been given to this sector.
Determining the weight of indicators due to the interaction
and also examining the effectiveness or impact they have re-
quire a model that can show cause and effect and mutual
relations (Hsu et al. 2013).
This study recommends a new attitude in land-use plan-
ning, and it aims to prioritize the processing industries to re-
duce waste and better use of inputs concerning ecological
suitability assessment. Using appropriate methods that can
combine multiple criteria is very important to locate suitable
sites for the foundation of industrial units.
In recent years, several methods and techniques which
mostly are called multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM)
techniques have been applied to locate and prioritize, in order
to establish industrial units (Noratiqah et al. 2017). In the real
world, criteria are rarely independent but always have a degree
of interactive relationships, sometimes with dependence and
feedback effects (Abdullah and Zulkifli 2015; Mentes et al.
2015). The dependent effects were considered by Wang et al.,
2015, but they assumed that the dimensions have equal
weights, which is right in real-world situations (Wang et al.
2015).
In this study, we applied a hybrid model which is a combi-
nation of the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation
Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process
(ANP), called DANP, to construct the relationship and
weights of the criteria.
DEMATEL technique aids us in mapping the relation-
ship between various perspectives (Mentes et al. 2015).
This method is practical and useful, especially in visual-
izing the structure of complex causal relationships with
matrices or digraphs (Wu 2012). The DEMATEL method
has been successfully provided in many fields (Govindan
et al. 2015; Sara et al. 2015; Jeng 2015; Rajesh and Ravi,
2015; Mentes et al. 2015). The ANP is a mathematical
theory that can deal with all kinds of dependence method-
ically (Saaty 1996). It has a systematic approach to set
priorities and trade-offs among goals and criteria and also
can measure all tangible and intangible criteria in the
model and has been employed in many types of research
(Lam and Lai 2015; Brasil et al. 2015; Wang et al. 2015).
However, the treatments of internal dependencies in those
ANP works are not complete and perfect. To address this,
the DEMATEL, a mathematical computation method, not
only can convert the relations between cause and effect of
criteria into a visual structural model but also can be uti-
lized as a wise way to handle the inner dependences with-
in a set of criteria (Tseng 2010).
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144
Some authors have applied structured methods by
starting from analytic hierarchy processes (Wang et al.
2015). Altuntas and Dereli (2015) presented a hybrid ap-
proach between DEMATEL and patent citation analysis
for prioritizing a portfolio of investment projects. Uygun
et al. (2014) have applied integrated DEMATEL and
Fuzzy ANP technique for evaluation and selection of
outsourcing providers in a telecommunication company.
Hsu et al. (2013) applied to integrate DANP and modified
gray relation theory for the selection of an outsourcing
provider. Yang et al. (2013) proposed a VIKOR technique
based on DEMATEL and ANP for assessment of the in-
formation security risk control. This study uses objective
factors that cover all the essential elements, namely, eco-
logical, social, and economic dimensions. These factors
were used extensively by other researchers (Motlagh and
Sayadi 2015); Jiming et al. 2012; Behrens and Bougna
2015; Chacartegui et al. 2015).
The compromise ranking method (VIKOR) invented by
Opricovic and Tzeng (2007) as one of the MCDM
methods helps a decision-maker to rank some alternatives
by attending to their performance scores by using a set of
criteria (Zhu et al. 2015). The VIKOR method is particu-
larly powerful under such environment where the
decision-maker is unable or does not know how to ex-
press his preference at the early stage of product develop-
ment (Chen and Chen 2010; Mohanty and Mahapatra
2014). Because of its unique superiority, VIKOR has been
famously used in various decision-making areas such as
prioritizing alternatives in strategic environmental assess-
ment (Kim et al. 2015), robot selection (Girubha and
Vinodh 2012), human error identification, and risk prior-
itization in overhead crane operations (Mandal et al.,
2015), an outsourcing provider and selection (Hsu et al.
2013).
Study area
This study was carried out in Fars Province, which is
located in southern Iran with an area of 13,769 km2 that
located at 29° 05′ − 30° 07’ N and 28° 48′ − 29° 18′ E in
the three counties of Marvdasht, Shiraz and Kazeroon
which according to the 2011’s census. About 33% of ag-
ricultural production of the Fars Province has been pro-
duced in these three counties. The capital city is Shiraz,
one of the metropolises in Iran. Marvdasht is located in
45 km north of Shiraz and Kazeroon is located to the west
of Shiraz. Average rainfall in the Fars Province is more
than 320 mm per year during the last 20 years. Figure 1
shows the location of the Fars Province and three
counties.
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144 Page 3 of 11 144

Fig. 1 Geographical location of

the study area

Methodology the DANP method, the weight of criteria is obtained. After

This research was carried out for sustainable land-use plan-
ning of agro-processing industries. Ecological suitability as-
sessment is applied based on ecological variables.
Socioeconomic indicators are considered to the weight
intended by the experts and their contribution to the develop-
ment of process industries, by using the multi-criteria deci-
sion-making methods. Finally, spatial prioritization was con-
ducted to plan the development of process industries. Using
preparing the criteria by using weighted overlay function ac-
cording to the giving weight to each criterion for economic
and social areas, the DANP method was applied. Thus, by
providing the appropriate zones for the development of the
processing industry, the VIKOR method was used to prioritize
social and economic areas with ecological suitability. Finally,
by overlaying both economic and social values of this map
with the ecological agriculture map between fuzzy and
Boolean, the final ranking was performed. The research

Table 1 The specific model of

industry development based on Criteria Distances of criteria Classes of Area (ha) Percentage
ecological land suitability criteria

Water availability > 4000 Appropriate 1,182,878 94.19

m3/ha) 2000–4000 Medium 57,122 4.54
< 2000 Inappropriate 16,031 1.27
Slope 0–10 Appropriate 545,039 47.00
(percentage) 10–20 Medium 100,198 7.20
> 20 Inappropriate 627,573 45.80
Soil depth Deep Appropriate 1,049,641 76.64
Very low-low Medium 319,924 23.36
– Inappropriate – –
Precipitation (mm) >400 Appropriate 1,270,823 27.28
200–400 Medium 84,098 69.60
< 200 Inappropriate 18,737 3.12
Climate Semi humid, humid, and Appropriate 344,556 27.84
Mediterranean
Arid Medium 955,314 69.58
Semiarid Inappropriate 42,936 3.12
Soil drainage Good Appropriate 1,151,761 71.4
Medium Medium 258,175 16.00
Weak Inappropriate 203,240 12.6
 144 Page 4 of 11
Fig. 2 Classified ecological criteria
method can be justified using precise values in complex eval-
uation systems. A DEMATEL was used to construct interre-
lations between criteria. The criteria weights are then obtained
through ANP, measuring dependence, and feedback.
Ecological suitability analysis
For ecological suitability assessment, a systematic ap-
proach was applied (Burrough et al. 1992; FAO 1976;
Makhdoom 2001; Baja et al. 2006; Reza et al. 2013). In
order to prepare ecological suitability maps, a specific eco-
logical model was employed. A set of ecological and en-
vironmental criteria affecting the suitability of agriculture
is identified. The sufficient ecological criteria included
slope, water availability, soil depth, soil drainage, and
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144
climatology (Gbanie et al. 2013; Wan Mohtar et al. 2019;
Shaxson et al. 2014; Pelenc et al. 2015). The preparation of
underlying maps in the area included digital topographic
maps 1:25000 (National Cartographic Center organization)
to create DEM, slope, and aspect. Maps that depicted soil
are prepared using 1:50000 data from the Ministry of
Agriculture. Land use/cover data 1:50000 has been prepared
by the Iranian National Cartographic Center, and geology and
lithology data in the index of 1:100000 has been obtained
from Geological Survey of Iran. The Boolean model, was
used for the analysis of maps. Boolean (binary) model is an
overlay methodology intersected parameters based on AND
(intersection) and OR (union). Criteria are mapped as GIS
layers and incorporating them in the GIS to create suitability
maps (McHarg 1969; Steinitz et al. 1976; Collins et al. 2001).
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144
Fig. 3 Final ecological suitability map
Socioeconomic assessment
After library investigations and consultation with experts,
criteria including human population density, amount of pro-
duction (Jiming et al. 2012), the comparative advantage (Nath
et al. 2015; Kocourek 2015), the distance to main roads
(Gbanie et al. 2013), access to the fuel supply, and proximity
to the center of province was selected as valid criteria for
socioeconomic assessments to develop agro-processing in-
dustries. Population data are obtained from the 2011 census,
and the amount of production is collected from the Ministry of
Agriculture. Comparative advantages are calculated through
LQ index as explained in Section 3.2.3. Criteria scores are
obtained according to the expert’s opinions by the knowledge
of 30 experts in the field of agriculture and industrial
development.
The DANP method
The ANP method currently deals with normalization in the
super matrix by assuming that each cluster has an equal
weight. Although the super matrix normalization method is
secure, the assumption of equal weight seems to be illogical,
because different criteria have different degrees of influence
(Cogswell 2008). The DEMATEL method is a technique used
Page 5 of 11 144
in the design and analysis of structured models that involve
causal relationships between complex factors. This study ap-
plied an effective solution based on a combined ANP and
DEMATEL approach (Tseng and Lin 2009). The DANP in-
fluential weights can improve the normalization process of
traditional ANP by building an INRM for each criterion and
dimension.
Based on expert opinion, the relationship between each
mutual influence criterion was assessed by using a scale
from 0 to 4 by pair-wise comparison in the form of a
matrix which indicates absolutely no influence to very
strong influence. This direct influence matrix should be
normalized. Based on Eq. 1, a total influence matrix T is
calculated.
T ¼ XðI−XÞ− 1 ð1Þ
Then the sum of row (r) and the sum of columns (c) of the
matrix components (T) is calculated using Eq. (2) and (3) to
provide Causal graph of INRM.


T ¼ t ij n:n
h i ð2Þ
r ¼ ðriÞn:1 ¼ ∑nj¼1 tij
n:1


c ¼ ðcjÞ1:n ¼ ðcjÞ; 1:n ¼ ∑ni¼1 tij 1:n ð3Þ
 144 Page 6 of 11 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144

Fig. 4 Socioeconomic criteria

Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144 Page 7 of 11 144

Table 2 Influential weights by stable matrix of DANP when power lim φ → ω(wc*)φ

Population Production Farmer LQ Distance to province Distance to Road Distance to fuel

families center industries density station

Population 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132

Production 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
Farmer families 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
LQ 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
Distance to province 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
center
Distance to industries 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
Road density 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132
Distance to fuel station 0.003 0.204 0.146 0.164 0.059 0.129 0.164 0.132

The sum of each row has calculated the total influential on interdependence between the relationships of the dimen-
matrix TD by using Eq. (4). sions and clusters, the total influential matrix is normalized
0 11 1 into a super matrix. The product of TDnor and Wc obtained
t D ⋯ t 11D ⋯ t 1m D 1j weighted super matrix and limited the weighted super matrix
B ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋯ ⋮ C →∑mj¼1 t D ¼ t 1D
B i1 C by raising it into considerable power to obtain global priority
T DB ij im C m ij
B t D ⋯ t D ⋯ t D C →∑ j¼1 t D ¼ t D
1
ð4Þ
@⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋮A vector.
m mj m
→∑ t
j¼1 D ¼ t D
t m1
D ⋯ t mjD ⋯ t mmD
The VIKOR method
Thus, the total influential matrix can be normalized. Then,
each row of the normalized TDnor can be summed to be equal The VIKOR method is developed from the Lp-metric in com-
to one. For obtaining an unweighted super matrix, Wc, based promise programming:

Fig. 5 Land suitability for industrial development based on socioeconomic criteria

 144 Page 8 of 11 Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144

Table 3 VIKOR normalized

matrix Counties Population Production Farmer LQ Distance Distance Road Distance
families to to density to fuel
province industries station
center

Shiraz 0.0563 0.0463 0.0632 0.0417 0.0483 0.0435 0.0827 0.0788

Marvdasht 0.0436 0.0606 0.0506 0.0740 0.0804 0.0783 0.0867 0.0625
Kazeroon 0.0308 0.0335 0.0335 0.0817 0.0763 0.0261 0.0508 0.0338

nh    ip o 1p If the LQ is more significant than one, the product has the
Lpi ¼ Wj f *j −f i j = f *j −f −j ð5Þ advantage over the products of the group under study; other-
1 ≤ p ≤ ∞; i ¼ 1; 2…; n wise, it will not be considered an advantage for the city. In the
end, in order to expand the location of agro-processing indus-
where Lpi is considered as an accumulating function; f ij is
tries in three cities, the comparative advantage is calculated
the evaluation value of criterion j for alternative i; fj and fj are
through LQ index. A product that has an advantage in all three
the best and worst value of criterion j, respectively; wj is the
cities should be considered as the target product for the devel-
weight of criterion j; m is the number of criteria; n is the
opment of agro-processing industries.
number of alternatives; and p marks the weight of the maximal
deviation from the ideal solution. In VIKOR, L1,i (expressed
as Si) and L1,i (expressed as Ri) are used to formulate ranking
measure. The final compromise solution is the one with a Results
maximum group utility (min Si) of the majority and a mini-
mum of individual anguish (min Ri) of the opponent. It is a Based on Section 3.1, the considered criteria include slope,
feasible solution, which is the closest to the ideal (Zhu et al. water availability, soil depth, soil drainage, precipitation, and
2015). climate. All criteria are prepared in the format of shapefiles.
These layers are divided into three classes: high suitable, me-
dium, and low based on the specific ecological model.
Location Quotient (LQ) calculation Combination of these layers resulted in a specific model of
industrial development based on ecological land suitability
In this section, the production and cropping in a different part assessment. These layers are given in Table 1, and the classi-
of the province are compared. In order to determine the type of fied maps of ecological criteria are presented in Fig. 2. Also,
products, the Location Quotient (LQ) index is used. The LQ by the Boolean overlay, the final ecological suitability map is
index indicates whether the city has a comparative advantage presented in Fig. 3.
in the region. The comparative advantage of each product in Table 1 The specific model of industrial development
their group is examined as follows: based on ecological land suitability
Rv For socioeconomic criteria, beneficiary households, human
∑Rv population, amount of production, the comparative advantage,
LQ ¼ ð6Þ the distance to main roads, access to the fuel supply, and
∑ Rv
i proximity to the center of province and proximity to existing
∑ ∑ Rv industries are selected as fruitful criteria for socioeconomic
i j
assessments to develop agro-processing industries.
where Rv is the amount of product i produced in the city, Σ Population data are obtained from the 2011 census, and the
Rv is the production rate of all products in the city, Σ iRv is the amount of production is collected from the Ministry of
production rate i in the province, and ΣiΣjRV is the total Agriculture. All layers are prepared in the GIS environment,
production in the province. and these are presented in Fig. 4.
According to the DANP, based on the basic concept of
ANP, the data were designed and obtained to calculate a
Table 4 The index of weighted and unweight super matrix to determine the influen-
VIKOR (Q), SJ and RJ Counties RJ SJ Q
tial weights based on the total-influential normalized matrix.
Marvdasht 0.0937 0.188 0 The result is presented in Table 2. By calculated weights and
Shiraz 0.333 0.470 0.668 weighted overlay function, the result of land suitability for
Kazeroon 0.446 0.618 1 industrial development based on socioeconomic criteria is pre-
sented in Fig. 5.
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144
Fig. 6 The total priority map
Table 2 Influential weights by the stable matrix of DANP
when power lim φ → ω(wc*)φ
Based on the above results, the influential weight ques-
tionnaire from experts showed that production with 0.204
is the most essential criteria, and population with 0.003 is
the least important criteria for locating agro-processing
industries. By calculated weights and weighted overlay
function, the result of land suitability for industrial devel-
opment based on socioeconomic criteria is presented in
Fig. 5.
The results of VIKOR to prioritize alternatives are present-
ed in Tables 3 and 4.
One of the conditions for the acceptance of the prioritiza-
tion is that the option which is located on Q column should
also have the highest rate on both R and S columns. Therefore,
Marvdasht county is a priority.
In the end, by overlaying two suitability maps (ecological
and socioeconomic) priority area for agro-processing indus-
tries are obtained as shown in Fig. 6.
Based on the results, the final priority map and suitable
area for agro-processing industries are located in areas with
both ecological suitability and socioeconomic capabilities.
According to the results, proximity with the ecological po-
tential, proximity with nearby industries, total production,
Page 9 of 11 144
the distance to the main roads, the distance to the fuel
supply, amount of population, distance to the center of
the province, the number of agricultural households, and
comparative advantage in manufacturing are among the
effective criteria in sustainable development of the process
industries.
The suitable locations for the process industries are located
in the three central parts of the Marvdasht, Sayedan, and
Zarghan, mostly due to ecological conditions, proximity to
adjacent industries and main roads and the number of benefi-
ciary households in these three sections.
The results obtained from the process industries in the re-
gion suggests that some high-producing industries, such as
Jomleh-Narges oil company of Shiraz, Dasht-e Neshat, two
major industrial zones, and Ab-Barik industrial zone, are all
located in areas without any suitability.
Also, in this study, a new approach is introduced in the
preparation steps, simultaneously utilizing ecological poten-
tial by using simple overlay, and the economic and social
suitability by using DANP decision-making technique. To
align these two approaches, socioeconomic and ecological
factors are employed, but what sets this approach apart is that
this method is a new and innovative method among process
industries.
 144 Page 10 of 11
Conclusion
This study has aimed to locate agro-processing industries in
order to prevent losing the product and improving manage-
ment of crops. It also employed the VIKOR technique to
prioritize counties for agro-processing industries. In the previ-
ous researches, importance was given more to economic and
social criteria, but in this study, in addition to socioeconomic
criteria, the ecological suitability was considered based on
land-use planning. Makhdoom (2001) points out that the spe-
cific ecological models have their weight and there is no need
for re-weighting the criteria. For weighing and determining
suitable zones of the socioeconomic criteria, the DANP is
used to make an INRM and influential weights of criteria.
The map of the weighted parameters overlaid on areas with
the ecological capability for development. The necessity of
subscribing logician order to determine suitable areas elimi-
nates the occurred problem in many weighting methods due to
considering restrictions and critical factor for the weighting.
We can generally consider specific models as a state between
the Fuzzy and Boolean, which in addition to having weight
consider the presence or absence of the condition. The results
of this study demonstrated that areas known as suitable places
in terms of the economic and social condition must have good
ecological potential. Addition to taking advantage of the so-
cial and economic resources causes industries to construct in
places which can respond to their ecological needs.
Appropriate organization of human activities throughout the
land is the main objective of all planning at different levels.
Considering the importance of food security, since the distri-
bution of the activities of industries related to agriculture is
related to the optimal use of the products and social, ecologic,
and economic resources, it is one of the most critical issues of
spatial planning of the land. The main objective of studying is
introducing a comprehensive land-use planning approach
based on multi-criteria decision-making, GIS, and suitability
assessment for agricultural process industries. This approach
has led to the implementation of programs and measures by
which we can adequately utilize the ecological resources and
our economic and social capital to further the development of
the region. According to the obtained results, an integrated
model of DANP and VIKOR is suitable for prioritizing the
process industries with an environmental approach.
Development of process industries in suitable and high-
producing agricultural areas is more important than other
areas; this importance emerges when the agricultural sector
is faced with many problems, including when products go to
waste due to a weak market and lack of management plans for
the rational use of natural resources in our land.
In order to obtain a rational and sustainable utilization of
the land’s potential, careful examination is required so that the
agricultural process industries get located in areas that, firstly,
have the necessary ecological capability to meet the needs of
Arab J Geosci (2020) 13:144
these industries, and secondly, be able to help fix the social
problems of the area, such as unemployment and lack of
income.
Acknowledgments We acknowledge the University of Tehran and the
National University Malaysia (UKM) for their provision of resources
and collaborative efforts.
Funding information This research is supported by the University of
Tehran and grant numbers MI-2019-013, UKM: XX-2018-006, AP-
2015-012, and KRA-2017-022 from UKM, Malaysia.
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