Evaluating multifunctional

agriculture in Dalishu,
China
A combined application of
SWOT analysis and the analytic
network process method
Liaoji Zheng and HuiQing Liu

Abstract: This paper evaluates multifunctional agriculture using strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis combined with an analytic
network process (ANP) method. The integrated approach is preferred because it
quantifies the intensities of the respective strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats, and provides a more effective evaluation than SWOT or ANP used in
isolation. The results show that the economic function is stronger than the
residential, environmental or leisure functions in Dalishu village, Liaoning
province, China. The analysis contributes to our understanding of the consequences
of agricultural environmental policies for the conservation of multifunctional
agriculture in rural areas.

Keywords: multifunctional agriculture; China; SWOT; ANP

Liaoji Zheng and HuiQing Liu (corresponding author) are with the College of Urban and
Environmental Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin Province 130024, PR China.
E-mail: liuhq595@nenu.edu.cn. Liaoji Zheng is also with the School of Tourism and Hospitality,
Eastern Liaoning University, Dandong, Liaoning Province, PR China.

Over the past half-century, major shifts have been
witnessed globally in rural sustainable development
(Renting et al, 2008). As a core part of sustainable
development, multifunctional agriculture (MFA) is
important for maintaining the viability of rural areas and
is particularly significant for resource and nature
conservation (Gómez Sal and González García, 2007). The
term MFA refers to farming activities that often entail
distinct socioeconomic functions other than simply
producing traded products and services (Tait, 2001; Kizos
et al, 2011). Strong MFA optimizes the yield of high-
quality food in ways that maintain highly functioning
ecosystems with socially just and economically viable
human relations in the rural community (Boody, 2008;
Wilson, 2009). Therefore, strong multifunctionality helps
to ensure protection of the environment, healthy farming
and rural communities (Wilson, 2008).
As a type of ‘ecological embeddedness’, MFA is a
multilevel, multi-actor and multi-aspect process rooted in
a regional context and in the natural environment (van
der Ploeg et al, 2000; Morris and Kirwan, 2011).
Simultaneously, human activities trigger spatio-temporal
changes in land use that, in turn, result in changes in land
use functions (Gaodi et al, 2010). The evaluation of the
internal multifunctionalities of MFA can directly shape the
pathway for its development in rural areas. However, the
structural relationship between the dimensions of
multifunctionalities and land use features is ambiguous.
This study proposes an integrated and hybrid approach
based on combining a strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis with an analytic
network process (ANP) to illustrate the analysis of
structural relationships between evaluative dimensions
and multifunctionality. The study analyses the internal

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Evaluating multifunctional agriculture with SWOT and ANP
Investigation site
Deciduous forest
Village boundary
Greenway
River
0 1,000
Tourism area
Figure 1. Location of Dalishu village in Liaoning province, China.
Source: Originated by the authors.
multifunctionalities in Dalishu village, Liaoning province,
China. This framework integrates SWOT analysis as an
essential step in regional research (Kurttila et al, 2000;
Knierim and Nowicki, 2010). The ANP is the general form
of the analytic hierarchy process and has been used in
multi-criteria decision making to release the restrictions of
a hierarchical structure. ANP is most effective when data
contain mixed tangibles and intangibles, which typically
characterize the socioeconomic and spatial features of
rural areas (Wolfslehner et al, 2005; Yüksel and
Dagdeviren, 2007). The research questions in this study
were: (i) What factors shape land use internal
multifunctionality? (ii) How can we distinguish
multifunctionality in land use? (iii) Which functions and
factors in land use are important? and (iv) What strategy
should be implemented in the land use for MFA? A brief
description of the methodology and approaches is given
below.
104
2,000 4,000 m
Methodology
Study area
Dalishu village is located in the mountainous regions of
eastern Liaoning province, China (Figure 1).
Environmental conditions such as high precipitation,
dense vegetation and plentiful water resources provide
ideal conditions for agricultural development. One of the
main characteristics of the village is its strong MFA.
Dalishu village has developed as a microcosm of the
region to establish an economically efficient, socially
balanced and environmentally friendly system of
sustainable development, which has a close relationship
with rural recreational functionality. The village size is
approximately 4,800 ha, 59% of which is used for MFA.
The residential functionality of land use is significant,
with housing for approximately 4,800 inhabitants
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2010s
2000s
Ecotourism
1990s
Modern
development
ecological
1980s Development agriculture
of township
enterprises
Establishment of
the household
contract system
Figure 2. Development process of MFA in Dalishu village.
accounting for 2.5% of land use. Other land uses include
ecotourism areas and greenways (or green spaces).
A modified landscape establishes a diverse spatial
foundation for MFA. Rural land provides a variety of
ecosystems and singular habitats, as evidenced by the
environmental functions of MFA. More than 30 years ago,
deforestation often resulted in soil quality loss and
plantation crops that supplied neither local food nor
stable income because of the high risks associated with
disease outbreaks. Rural economic reform in the early
1980s enabled peasants to participate in the management
of their land. Local villagers took the lead in rural
landscape ecological construction, transforming a large
part of the barren mountains into fruit orchards and
characteristic plantation areas. The integrated utilization
of forest resources has increased the leisure function of
the land and facilitated the development of eco-
agriculture and rural tourism. Meanwhile, the water
resource project targets the local river with its scenic,
recreational, fish and wildlife values. This development
has resulted in a transformation from a simple to a
complex structure in MFA (Figure 2).
The economic functions of agricultural activities
provide the main source of local income, accounting for
30% of the rural area’s gross domestic product and
employing 70% of the local (village) workforce. The per
capita average net income in the village reached 10,000
yuan RMB in 2008, 50% of which came from the plantation
industry and the remainder from other land use projects.
Structural adjustment in agriculture continues to take
place and exhibits diversification according to natural
conditions. Agricultural activities range from the
cultivation of unconventional crops to the provision of
services for tourism/leisure purposes and the processing
and marketing of specialist foods. Ecological agriculture
and ecotourism are significant in driving rural landscape
construction. Commodities and non-commodities are both
effectively transformed into new activities and income-
earning opportunities for farmers, entrepreneurs and
community organizations. Land policies vary in their
involvement and success in encouraging such
transformation, depending on institutional structures and
modes of governance at regional levels as well as on
policy implementation efficiency.
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Evaluating multifunctional agriculture with SWOT and ANP
Dalishu is the origin of the traditional Chinese
medicine plant or herb Schisandra chinensis, which was
planted on a large scale in northern China. The plantation
area of Schisandra chinensis now exceeds 1,300 ha, covering
30% of the agricultural area in the region. The region has
thus become an important production base for this herb in
northern China. To support the plantation industry, a
rural cooperative organization was established, which
enabled the farmers to participate in democratic
decisions. In addition, a typical management and benefit
distribution mechanism was created. The cooperative
organization also absorbed other kinds of investment to
address inadequate production funds, with various
investments including government support being
sought. Recently, Schisandra chinensis in Dalishu was
given ‘Good Agricultural Practices’ certification by
the European Union, which provides protection to
products with a geographical focus in Liaoning
province.
The appreciation of the rural landscape and traditional
values such as heritage and folklore has also significantly
increased the leisure functionality of Dalishu. A landscape
network for rural tourism was constructed in the village,
which resulted in an increase in integrated tourism
income from 10 to 150 million yuan RMB (in 2010).
Dalishu was also awarded the title ‘China Agricultural
Park’ in 2010, which marks the transition of agriculture
into a new stage of MFA. The new type of park includes
the new agricultural culture and production process and
an ecological production environment. Rural tourism
activity in this agricultural park has enhanced not only
the foundation of MFA, but also the inevitable choice of
sustainable development. The process of development
exhibited two types of transformation. The first type
involved the natural factors being extended to rural
development, in which the industrial structure was
transformed from elementary to more advanced. The
second was the functionality transformation in the MFA,
in which its multifunctional structure was defined
(Figure 3).
Supply Need
Economic
Urban function Rural area
Employment Leisure
Raw material
functionality
output competition
Residential
Environmental
function function
Figure 3. Transformation mechanisms between functionalities of
MFA in Dalishu village.
105
Evaluating multifunctional agriculture with SWOT and ANP
Steps Step 1 Step 2
Situational
Activities Network structure
assessment
(SWOT)
SWOT–ANP
Output SWOT matrix
framework
Figure 4. Steps of multifunctionality evaluation with a combined SWOT and ANP approach.
Data collection
The data collection process had two stages. The first was
from May to June 2011. In-depth interviews were
performed in Dalishu with experts, community residents
and entrepreneurs to highlight the rural environment,
social status, cultural heritage and folklore of Dalishu. The
second stage was from July to October 2011. We obtained
qualitative data through personal interviews with experts
and then used a SWOT analysis to assess the issues within
a theoretical framework of MFA. This step was performed
through pair-wise comparisons by asking ‘How important
is a criterion compared with another criterion with respect
to MFA?’ The relative importance value was determined
using a scale of 1 to 9 to represent equal importance to
extreme importance. The expert panel analysed the
network structure, deriving a priority vector for each
comparison set.
SWOT analysis and analytic network process
Compared with applying SWOT and ANP in isolation, the
integrated SWOT–ANP approach used here enables not
only the identification and classification of various
indicators, but also the quantification of their relative
significance. Thus, the SWOT analysis provides the basic
framework within which the analyses of MFA can be
performed. The internal and external factors that are most
important to the future of MFA are referred to as strategic
factors, which are summarized within the SWOT analysis.
The steps of the SWOT–ANP applied to the MFA are
shown in Figure 4. ANP methods help to conduct the
SWOT analysis in a more analytical way and to elaborate
the results of the analyses so that SWOT can be prioritized
with respect to all multifunctionalities. The SWOT–ANP
framework used in this study is presented in Figure 5.
Based on the more structured conception of MFA, four
functional criteria were established:
• C1. Economic function refers to the capacity of the
farming production system, such as cultivation of
animals and plants, and processing.
• C2. Residential function refers to the capacity of the
inhabitants’ environment, which reflects the interests of
the rural community.
• C3. Environmental function refers to the capacity of
rural environmental management and landscape
construction techniques.
106
Step 3 Step 4
Pair-wise
Multifunctionality
comparison
evaluation
(ANP)
SWOT analysis Relate the MFA
alternative
is carried out
evaluation
• C4. Leisure function refers to the capacity of the natural
environment, quality of landscape and the cultural
environment of the rural area.
The model shown in Figure 5 is complex and comprises
four clusters (SWOT), 12 criteria (factors) and a number of
loops. The factors of a cluster can be related to factors of
another cluster or to factors of the same cluster
(feedback). The integration of economic, residential,
environmental and leisure functions within the
framework provides a holistic approach for integrated
rural land use. Based on the ANP methodology, the
supermatrix was created by using Super Decisions
software, Version 2.0.8 (Saaty, 2004). Super Decisions is a
simple software package that constructs decision models
with dependence and feedback and then computes results
by using the supermatrices of the ANP.
Results
The priorities of all the factors in the ANP/SWOT
network were normalized by cluster, and the network was
then organized by cluster, with the sum of the priorities
adding up to 1.0 (Table 1). The results show that among
the multifunctionalities in Dalishu, the highest was
economic, followed by residential and leisure functions,
and then environmental. The economic function is the
strongest for MFA in Dalishu. The environmental function
is the weakest. A strong economic function also tends to
support rural community development and rural tourism,
which are based on diverse landscapes including forest,
cultural heritage and other amenities. Achieving strong
leisure functionality at a rural community level can be
predicated on the need to attract more tourists. The strong
Table 1. Evaluation of MFA in Dalishu village.
Name Normalized by cluster Limiting
Economic function (EF) 0.61128 0.108160
Residential function (RF) 0.16239 0.028733
Environmental function (EF) 0.11174 0.019772
Leisure function (LF) 0.11459 0.020276
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 Evaluating multifunctional agriculture with SWOT and ANP

Goal

Environmental
Economic function Residential function Leisure function
function

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Outstanding Lack Financial Culture

characteristic funds input shock

Regional Lack Policy Environmental

advantage planning support pressure

Steady Lack Public Regional

market project participation competition

Figure 5. SWOT–ANP framework for MFA.

Table 2. Priority scores of SWOT factors.

SWOT groups Scaling factors SWOT factors

Normalized by cluster Limiting Factors Normalized by cluster Limiting
Financial input 0.24487 0.011081
Policy support 0.54805 0.024801
Opportunities (O) 0.19766 0.121090 Public participation 0.20708 0.009371
Outstanding characteristic 0.23894 0.028455
Strengths (S) 0.53930 0.330377 Regional advantage 0.62141 0.074004
Steady market 0.13965 0.016631
Culture shock 0.35841 0.010500
Threats (T) 0.16651 0.102005 Environmental pressure 0.28304 0.008292
Regional competition 0.35855 0.010504
Lack funds 0.34432 0.005789
Weaknesses (W) 0.09653 0.059134 Lack planning 0.53804 0.009046
Lack project 0.11765 0.001978

demand for a tourist market creates opportunities for
rural tourism development in Dalishu. Used in
combination with the SWOT matrix, it may have a better
chance of developing a competitive advantage by
identifying a fit between the rural area’s strengths and
upcoming opportunities. Therefore, the strengths
combined with the opportunities (SO) strategy is suitable
for the historical progress of agriculture and for the
further development of MFA (Table 2). By choosing this
SO strategy, a variety of agri-environmental policies
should be implemented to achieve an optimal level of
rural public goods from MFA.
Leisure space is embedded in the rural landscape
network, which could supply public goods such as scenic
landscapes and could affect the overall quality of the
recreational experience. Leisure functionality is an
important functional node, which connects other nodes in
the network of MFA. Therefore, the leisure and
environmental functions denote the strategic potential of
rural internal constitution, and the plan was eventually to

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Evaluating multifunctional agriculture with SWOT and ANP
turn MFA into profitable products for the regional market.
Improving the landscape structure supports the
ecological, social and economic processes required, and
promoting this structure can deliver goods and services
for present and future generations.
Conclusions and implications
Internal and external environmental analysis could yield a
new integrated non-linear approach to inform strategic
decision making and may be important in promoting and
enhancing the understanding of key factors that affect
planning and decision making in MFA. This study
contributes by distinguishing multifunctionalities in rural
areas. The differences between the functions facilitate the
structural adjustment of MFA through corresponding
strategic measures such as environmental construction
and tourism development. Environmental construction
can significantly contribute to both environmental and
economic measures of MFA. Meanwhile, tourism
development for potential consumers and the capability
of the local community to stage images of ‘rural-ness’
have become decisive factors for rural development.
This study compares the multifunctionalities between
the rural areas. One of the limitations of ANP is its
dependency on the decision maker. The weightings
obtained are based on the subjective opinion of the
decision maker. The decision maker must also be at a
strategic level in the MFA to be able to realize the
importance of all aspects such as marketing and
investment. If policy makers of MFA utilize the proposed
approach (SWOT–ANP), they will be able to obtain a
more comprehensive decision-making tool for executing
strategic choices than by using traditional methods (such
as SWOT alone).
Acknowledgments
This project was funded by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC 40871005), Educational
Commission of Liaoning Province (No W2010158) and the
Liaoning Social Science Fund (L11BJL024). We thank
Dr Daolan Zheng for valuable comments on an earlier
version of this manuscript. We would also like to
emphasize our gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and
editorial staff of the journal for their contributions.
108
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