Developing a National Eco-System for Sustainable Vegatable Supply Chain in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchira T. Gunarathne ◽  
◽  
Yapa Mahinda Bandara ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Distribution Channels ◽  
High Price ◽  
Price Fluctuations ◽  
Contemporary Topic

Fruits and vegetables supply chain in Sri Lanka has always been a contemporary topic due to its significant value to the economy of the country. The existing fruits and vegetables supply chain is already suffering from dilemmas such as high price fluctuations, excess supply and wastage, involvement of large number of intermediaries and lack of infrastructure. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has put a tremendous pressure on already trembling supply chains. Sudden lock downs have led to disruption of existing distribution channels resulting farmers throwing away millions of tons of fresh fruits and vegetables while consumers in urban areas paying extremely high prices for fresh produce. The current situations clearly demonstrate the need for a more responsive and integrated vegetables supply chain for Sri Lanka. This paper attempts to create a conceptual model for the vegetable supply chain ecosystem for Sri Lanka.

Sustainable logistics barriers of fruits and vegetables

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 2589-2610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Raut ◽  
Bhaskar B. Gardas
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Sustainable Transportation ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Interpretive Structural Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sustainable Logistics

PurposeThe reduction of food wastage at every stage of a fresh produce supply chain helps in achieving balance among all three dimensions (social, ecological and economic) of the sustainability and helps in stimulating the growth and development in the agricultural domain. The purpose of this paper is to address the causal factors of post-harvesting losses (PHLs) occurring in the transportation phase.Design/methodology/approachThrough exhaustive literature survey and expert opinions, 12 crucial barriers to sustainable transportation of fruits and vegetables (F&V) are identified. The interpretive structural modeling (ISM) methodology, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach, is employed for developing a structural model of the identified barriers.FindingsThe results of the analysis highlighted that two factors, namely, the non-availability of refrigerated vehicles, and excessive loading on the vehicles, are the most significant barriers to sustainable transportation which are found to have the highest driving power.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of the present research are applicable to the F&V supply chains only. The established interrelation among the identified factors depends on the judgments given by the experts which could be biased. The developed ISM model is intended to guide the policy and decision makers for formulating the policies for the performance improvement of the fresh produce value chain.Originality/valueIt is the first research of its kind focusing on the model development of critical factors causing PHLs in the transportation phase of the agricultural fresh produce supply chain using MCDM process.

scholarly journals Recent Advances in Reducing Food Losses in the Supply Chain of Fresh Agricultural Produce

Processes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1431
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Onwude ◽  
Guangnan Chen ◽  
Nnanna Eke-emezie ◽  
Abraham Kabutey ◽  
Alfadhl Yahya Khaled ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Quality Loss ◽  
Agricultural Produce ◽  
Digital Twins ◽  
Food Losses

Fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious agricultural produce with tremendous human health benefits. They are also highly perishable and as such are easily susceptible to spoilage, leading to a reduction in quality attributes and induced food loss. Cold chain technologies have over the years been employed to reduce the quality loss of fruits and vegetables from farm to fork. However, a high amount of losses (≈50%) still occur during the packaging, pre-cooling, transportation, and storage of these fresh agricultural produce. This study highlights the current state-of-the-art of various advanced tools employed to reducing the quality loss of fruits and vegetables during the packaging, storage, and transportation cold chain operations, including the application of imaging technology, spectroscopy, multi-sensors, electronic nose, radio frequency identification, printed sensors, acoustic impulse response, and mathematical models. It is shown that computer vision, hyperspectral imaging, multispectral imaging, spectroscopy, X-ray imaging, and mathematical models are well established in monitoring and optimizing process parameters that affect food quality attributes during cold chain operations. We also identified the Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual representation models of a particular fresh produce (digital twins) as emerging technologies that can help monitor and control the uncharted quality evolution during its postharvest life. These advances can help diagnose and take measures against potential problems affecting the quality of fresh produce in the supply chains. Plausible future pathways to further develop these emerging technologies and help in the significant reduction of food losses in the supply chain of fresh produce are discussed. Future research should be directed towards integrating IoT and digital twins for multiple shipments in order to intensify real-time monitoring of the cold chain environmental conditions, and the eventual optimization of the postharvest supply chains. This study gives promising insight towards the use of advanced technologies in reducing losses in the postharvest supply chain of fruits and vegetables.

scholarly journals Reusable Plastic Crates (RPCs) for Fresh Produce (Case Study on Cauliflowers): Sustainable Packaging but Potential Salmonella Survival and Risk of Cross-Contamination

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1254
Author(s):  
Francisco López-Gálvez ◽  
Laura Rasines ◽  
Encarnación Conesa ◽  
Perla A. Gómez ◽  
Francisco Artés-Hernández ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Medium Density Fiberboard ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Cross Contamination ◽  
Multiple Use ◽  
Contact Materials

The handling of fresh fruits and vegetables in reusable plastic crates (RPCs) has the potential to increase the sustainability of packaging in the fresh produce supply chain. However, the utilization of multiple-use containers can have consequences related to the microbial safety of this type of food. The present study assessed the potential cross-contamination of fresh cauliflowers with Salmonella enterica via different contact materials (polypropylene from RPCs, corrugated cardboard, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) from wooden boxes). Additionally, the survival of the pathogenic microorganism was studied in cauliflowers and the contact materials during storage. The life cycle assessment (LCA) approach was used to evaluate the environmental impact of produce handling containers made from the different food-contact materials tested. The results show a higher risk of cross-contamination via polypropylene compared with cardboard and MDF. Another outcome of the study is the potential of Salmonella for surviving both in cross-contaminated produce and in contact materials under supply chain conditions. Regarding environmental sustainability, RPCs have a lower environmental impact than single-use containers (cardboard and wooden boxes). To exploit the potential environmental benefits of RPCs while ensuring food safety, it is necessary to guarantee the hygiene of this type of container.

scholarly journals Traceability of Fruits and Vegetables Supply Chain towards Efficient Management: A Case Study from Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 89-106
Author(s):  
Y. M. P. Samarasinghe ◽  
B. A. M. S. Kumara ◽  
Asela K. Kulatunga
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Postharvest Losses ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Traceability System ◽  
Product Identification

The necessity for food traceability has been increased over the years with the expansion of food supply chains globally over these years due to stringent of food safety regulations. Enhancing the access to quality food safely is one of the essential requirements of food supply chain traceability. Conversely, significant percentages of postharvest losses available especially in developing countries due to poor supply chain and logistics practices thereby threatening food security. Unless there is a possibility to trace the Supply chain, it is difficult to take remedial actions. When it comes to Sri Lanka, currently it is harder to have the traceability in most of the foods supply chains commonly on most of the elementary supply chains such as fruits and vegetables. This has led to postharvest losses since it is harder to identify when and where damages occur, who are accountable, harvested and transient times, supply demand mismatch too. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the feasibility of tracing of fruit and vegetable supply chain in Sri Lanka and contribute theoretically to facilitate authorities and decision makers for future traceability improvement. Availability of secondary information on fruits and vegetables traceability was examined referring to government agencies. Basic structure of supply chain was identified based on secondary data and a case study was conducted based on supply chains linked to Thambuththegama and Keppetipola Dedicated Economic Centers to gather primary data. To quantify the feasibility of tracing, a feasibility index was developed. Developed index was used to assess the feasibility towards improved traceability of selected chains where it can be applied for other food and non-food supply chains as well. The feasibility index can be used for other fruits and vegetables supply chains too to assess the feasibility prior to implementation of a traceability system. Furthermore, it can be used for non-food supply chains with some modifications. Analysis revealed that poor feasibility of wholesalers compared to farmers and retailers. Product identification technologies, awareness and willingness for traceability improvement were ranged low to fair for all the entity categories. Hence, enhancement of record-keeping and information sharing, adopting product identification and quality measurement technologies, and strengthening of legislation were identified as key improvements for enhanced fruits and vegetable traceability and efficient postharvest management of studied supply chains

scholarly journals Supply Chain Analysis of Raw and Value-added Products of Tomatoes in Telangana

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Narender Busani ◽  
P. Radhika ◽  
K. Supriya
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Value Added ◽  
High Price ◽  
Price Fluctuations ◽  
Chain Analysis ◽  
Tomato Processing ◽  
Tomato Products ◽  
Commission Agent ◽  
Supply Chain Analysis

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most widely consumed vegetable crops and the second-largest cultivated vegetable crop in the world after potato. Tomato is one of the most important protective foods because of its special nutritive value. Tomatoes grown in the country are consumed fresh in raw or cooked form or processed into tomato paste, juice, sauce, ketchup, soup and, pickles. Less than one percent of India’s tomato production is processed. On the other hand, the demand in India for processed tomato products has been growing at an annual rate of about 30 per cent over the last few years. India is the World's largest producer of many fruits and vegetables but there still exists a huge gap between per capita demand and supply due to enormous wastage during post-harvest storage, handling, and the absence of an optimum supply chain. The price fluctuations in tomatoes are very high and often farmers are forced to sell at prices that will not cover even the labor cost of picking the tomatoes. A well-developed tomato processing industry will reduce wastages as well as secure better prices for tomatoes. The present study entitled “Supply chain analysis of raw and value-added products of tomatoes in Telangana” was intended to assess supply chain analysis for raw and processed tomato products along with the constraints faced by each stake holder in the supply chain. Vikarabad district was purposively selected for the study, two mandals four villages each were selected from each village, data was collected from 10 farmers. Hence the total data was collected from 80 farmers. The data was also collected from commission agents, wholesalers/ traders, and retailers. From the tomato processing firms operating in around Hyderabad, three firms were selected to collect data regarding their products and marketing supply chain. The collected data was analyzed. The results of the study identified three channels of raw tomato marketing, namely: channel-I Farmer- Commission Agent-Trader-Retailer-consumer, Channel-II Famer – Commission agent - Retailer-consumer and Channel-III Farmer- Retailer-consumer. Two channels of processed tomato products were identified, namely: Channel-I, Manufacturing unit- wholesalers-consumers and Channel-II, Manufacturing unit- consumers. The producer share in the consumer rupee was highest in the Channel -III because of lesser number intermediaries. The marketing efficiency is highest for the channel – III fallowed by channel – II and channel -I. In case of processed industries are mostly preferring channel -II. The major constraints to the farmers identified were high price fluctuations, high cost of fertilizers and pesticides. The major constraints to the intermediaries identified were high price fluctuations and transportation costs and problems. The major problems identified were lack of quality raw materials suitable for processing, and price fluctuations of raw materials for the processing units, while the major problems faced by wholesalers identified were timely availability and quality related issues.

An Overview of Fruits and Vegetables' Retail Supply Chain Models in India

2020 ◽  
pp. 1265-1284
Author(s):  
Saurav Negi ◽  
Neeraj Anand
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Sustainable Income ◽  
Retail Formats

India is the second largest food producer in the world. Various high temperate Fruits and Vegetables (F&V) are widely grown in Himalayas and Terai region of India. They are important to the various retailers in the plain areas across all the seasons. It has gained its credibility for providing sustainable income, nutritional security and for providing employment opportunities by retailing, both in rural and urban areas. As the population is increasing, demand for fresh F&V are also increasing day by day, but at the same time various issues are hindering the growth of retail sector. This chapter presents an overview of F&V retail supply chain in India as it plays a very vital role in the growth of Indian economy, and is also directly related to the health and happiness of the customers. The different types of retail supply chain models which are currently followed by Indian F&V retail formats/retailers (traditional or unorganized retailers and modern or organized retailers) and various issues related to the retail supply chain of this sector are also discussed in this chapter.

An Overview of Fruits and Vegetables' Retail Supply Chain Models in India

2016 ◽  
pp. 170-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Negi ◽  
Neeraj Anand
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Sustainable Income ◽  
Retail Formats

India is the second largest food producer in the world. Various high temperate Fruits and Vegetables (F&V) are widely grown in Himalayas and Terai region of India. They are important to the various retailers in the plain areas across all the seasons. It has gained its credibility for providing sustainable income, nutritional security and for providing employment opportunities by retailing, both in rural and urban areas. As the population is increasing, demand for fresh F&V are also increasing day by day, but at the same time various issues are hindering the growth of retail sector. This chapter presents an overview of F&V retail supply chain in India as it plays a very vital role in the growth of Indian economy, and is also directly related to the health and happiness of the customers. The different types of retail supply chain models which are currently followed by Indian F&V retail formats/retailers (traditional or unorganized retailers and modern or organized retailers) and various issues related to the retail supply chain of this sector are also discussed in this chapter.

Supply Chain of Fruits & Vegetables Agribusiness in Uttarakhand (India): Major Issues and Challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1and2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saurav Negi ◽  
Neeraj Anand
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Cold Chain ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
Green Leafy Vegetables ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas

Fruits & vegetables (F&V) crops being high value crops are important in raising the incomes of the farmers besides creating employment opportunities. Fruits and vegetables sector in India has gained its credibility for providing sustainable income, nutritional security and for providing employment opportunities, both in rural and urban areas. India is the second largest food producer in the world, after china and one of the centers of origin of fruits and vegetables with the total production. Various high temperate fruits and vegetables like apples, oranges, pears, peaches, litchis, plums, tomato, green leafy vegetables etc. are widely grown in Himalayas and tarai region of Uttarakhand and are important to the large food processing industry. Fruits and vegetables is one of the most significant and thrust sector of the economy of Uttarakhand state. The entire supply chain of fruits and vegetables in Uttarakhand is laden with the various issues which resulting to poor price realization of growers on one hand and exorbitant prices paid by consumers on the other. Highly inefficient supply chain and cold chain infrastructure is the major impediment in the path of speedy growth of F&V production sector in Uttarakhand. The present study undertakes a thorough review of basic and contemporary literature available and discussed the issues and challenges related to supply chain of fruits and vegetables sector in state of Uttarakhand, India and suggested the corresponding mitigation strategies. As Uttarakhand economy is based on agriculture, there is a need to develop efficient supply chain which may play an important role in increasing the shelf life of the F&V and in turn reduce the losses and wastage in fruits and vegetables, increase in farmer income, generate employments opportunities for the local peoples, and improve the livelihood of the farmers which leads to the development of Uttarakhand and Indian economy as a whole.

scholarly journals Bridging the Gaps in Traceability Systems for Fresh Produce Supply Chains: Overview and Development of an Integrated IoT-Based System

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 7596
Author(s):  
Aristotelis C. Tagarakis ◽  
Lefteris Benos ◽  
Dimitrios Kateris ◽  
Nikolaos Tsotsolas ◽  
Dionysis Bochtis
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Traceability System ◽  
Access Information ◽  
Fresh Products ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Complicated Task

Traceability, namely the ability to access information about a product and its movement across all stages of the supply chain, has been emerged as a key criterion of a product’s quality and safety. Managing fresh products, such as fruits and vegetables, is a particularly complicated task, since they are perishable with short shelf lives and are vulnerable to environmental conditions. This makes traceability of fresh produce very significant. The present study provides a brief overview of the relative literature on fresh produce traceability systems. It was concluded that the commercially available traceability systems usually neither cover the entire length of the supply chain nor rely on open and transparent interoperability standards. Therefore, a user-friendly open access traceability system is proposed for the development of an integrated solution for traceability and agro-logistics of fresh products, focusing on interoperability and data sharing. Various Internet of Things technologies are incorporated and connected to the web, while an android-based platform enables the monitoring of the quality of fruits and vegetables throughout the whole agri-food supply chain, starting from the field level to the consumer and back to the field. The applicability of the system, named AgroTRACE, is further extended to waste management, which constitutes an important aspect of a circular economy.

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