Investigation of Aging Status of Tractors and Repair Power in Agriculture Khuzestan Province Using GIS and AHP

Aging tractors is one of the biggest challenges facing the Iranian agricultural sector which reduces the level of mechanization level. In this regard, the aging status of tractor fleet and repair power of Khuzestan province was investigated. For this purpose, existing tractors were zoned in two categories less and more than 13 years old, using ArcGIS software. Due to the high number of active tractors with more than 20 years of life, these tractors were zoned across the province. Aging factor of tractors was calculated for each individual county and the reasons for using old tractors were investigated using AHP method. A combined index entitled repair power was designed using information entropy and the counties of Khuzestan province were ranked based on that. Results showed that the largest number of tractors with over 13 years of age belonged to Ahwaz and Hendijan counties. Highest aging factor belonged to Bagh-e Malek County. Low financial ability of farmers was identified as the most important reason for using tractors over 13 years of age. The value of calculated repair power index indicates weak repair power in Khuzestan province. There is no correlation between aging factor and repair power, but aging factor had negative correlation with the number of repairman, a criterion of repair power index.