Mixed valuation methods: a combined AHP-GP procedure for individual and group multicriteria agricultural valuation

This paper introduces a new assessment method classification, in which a third procedure, mixed valuation, is jointly included with the traditional economic and non-economic methodologies. The paper considers a case of multiple actors (from a previous work by the same authors—Aznar et al. (Estudios de Economía Aplicada, 25(2):389–409, 2007), in which a new technique for multicriteria agriculture valuation (MAVAM) was proposed. The method is specifically designed for situations in which scarce information about the elements being compared (quantified or not) is available. It works in individual and group decision making contexts and attempts to both obtain and incorporate the objective information associated with the tangible aspects of the problem and the subjective knowledge associated with the human factor into the valuation process. It combines two of the most extended multicriteria decision making techniques: the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Goal Programming (GP). The first of these enables tangible and intangible information stemming from known elements to be collected by using pairwise comparisons; the second allows the scarce information available and the personal approach to the valuation to be included in the valuation process. The proposed methodology is illustrated by means of its application to a case of individual and group valuation of an agricultural asset in the La Ribera district, Valencia (Spain).