COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF FARMLAND INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE ARID AREA OF NORTH-WEST CHINA

Comprehensive evaluation of farmland infrastructure plays a significant role in utilizing water resources fully and ensuring a high and stable yield of crops. This study was conducted in the Shiyang River Basin, the arid region of north-west China. The evaluation hierarchy of farmland infrastructure, including objective, criterion, sub-criterion and attribute levels, was established. The weights of evaluation indices at different levels of the evaluation system were calculated using the analytic hierarchy process. The grades of farmland infrastructure in Changning, Huanhe, Qingyuan, Jinyang and Yongchang irrigation districts of the Shiyang River Basin were obtained using the grey correlation method. Results showed the evaluation indices ranked according to the descending order of their weights as irrigation and drainage infrastructure, 0.370; field infrastructure, 0.210; protection infrastructure, 0.162; rural power infrastructure, 0.143; road infrastructure, 0.115 in the criterion level. The grades of Changning, Huanhe, Qingyuan, Jinyang and Yongchang irrigation districts were excellent, excellent, good, average and excellent, respectively. The study provides a theoretical basis for improving farmland infrastructure construction. Copyright (C) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.