OPERATIONAL PRIORITIES SUPPORTING INTENSIVE SHRIMP FARM PRODUCTIVITY USING THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS

Abstrak

Intensive whiteleg shrimp farming requires managers to allocate limited labor, equipment, energy, and digital capacity across interdependent production activities. This study prioritized operational criteria supporting shrimp farm productivity at a commercial intensive Litopenaeus vannamei operation in Purworejo, Central Java, Indonesia. Five purposively selected experts representing strategic, production, technical, water-quality, and feeding functions completed semi-structured interviews and pairwise-comparison questionnaires during May-July 2026. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was used to aggregate judgments by geometric mean, calculate local and global priority weights, and test consistency. Operational Efficiency received the highest main-criterion weight (58.57%), followed by Digital Feeding Management (33.73%) and Water Quality Control (7.70%). Labor Productivity was the leading global sub-criterion (22.49%), followed by Equipment Maintenance Management (15.89%) and Energy Utilization Efficiency (11.30%). Within feeding management, Feeding Frequency ranked first; within water-quality control, Aeration and Water Circulation Effectiveness ranked marginally above pH Stability Control. The consistency ratios for the main criteria, feeding, water-quality, and operational-efficiency matrices were 0.025, 0.093, 0.089, and 0.090, respectively, all below 0.10. The results indicate that cross-cutting operational capability should receive first managerial attention, while feeding and water-quality safeguards must continue as essential operating controls. The framework supports transparent resource allocation but represents expert priorities rather than causal effects on biological productivity.