On sustainable improvements of agricultural practices in the Bairrada region (Portugal)

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to develop a framework to overcome problems of soil nutrient legacies and poor quality of water bodies raised by agricultural practices. A multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach is proposed to evaluate different alternatives to help to define sustainable vineyard agricultural solutions. The methodology developed was applied to a basin in the north-central part of Portugal, the São Lourenço basin. The land cover of the basin consists predominantly of vines. A number of alternatives based on different vineyard management practices and land use are evaluated against environmental and socioeconomic criteria by means of the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model and considering information included in some databases. The preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation (PROMETHEE) outranking method is used to rank the alternatives and to evaluate weight stability intervals assigned to criteria. A supplementary analysis is performed by a different MCDA method (technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS)), belonging to the family of compensatory methods, to provide additional insights to the decision makers. The results show the best and the worst alternatives for vineyard agricultural practices according to the weights assigned to the criteria. The sensitivity analysis of the weights indicated most stable ranking cases and the criterion that presents the narrow stability intervals. This work offers the opportunity to discuss comparisons between different types of agricultural practices and give insights for future developments of other areas where intensive vineyard cultivation is implemented.