A Multi Agent Negotiation Framework in Resource Bounded Environments

There has been growing interest in using multiagent systems in different applications as of their potential decision support, negotiation and task delegation features. Their deployment for the management of natural resources is also expanding due to the mounting decision making complexities and the movement of a wide range of issues to the front line agenda of decision makers. This paper investigates the applicability of a multiagent decision support system which can be used as a negotiation framework to enable the migration to decentralized management systems in the Gezira Scheme by improving negotiations among farmers and scheme administration to curtail conflicts that may exist during the dry season. The framework has been developed used TROPOS agent oriented software engineering methodology in collaboration with resource-oriented and process-centered analysis. Experimenting with the framework it proved to be of a considerable decision support for the negotiating parties by improving information availability, enabling assessment of alternative scenarios and promoting a change in "water-use" behavior" to curtail conflicts and facilitate adopting a "decentralized" management style in irrigated agriculture at the Gezira Scheme.