Purpose-The entire supply chain of Fruits and Vegetables in India is laden with various issues and challenges. To list the possible challenges and suggest a way forward, there is a need to study the supply chain of Fruits and

The purpose of this paper is to present the status of Supply chain efficiency in Fruits & Vegetables (F&V) sector in India and discusses the need and importance of efficient supply chain in this sector. Authors highlight the inefficiency of Fruits and Vegetables supply chain sector as one of the major business problem in the agriculture sector of India. This study will help decision makers and various stakeholders involved in the supply chain of Fruits and Vegetables like Farmers, Transporters, Local traders, Commission Agents, Cold storage provider to understand the current status, issues & need and importance of efficient supply chain for better planning and management in the field of Fruits and Vegetables sector. Most of the prior literature are focused on the general supply chain of Fruits and Vegetables and ignore the perspective of supply chain efficiency. This review fills this gap in the literature of supply chain management of Fruits and Vegetables sector.

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.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the issues and challenges in humanitarian logistics and to develop a framework for effectively managing the humanitarian logistics in disaster relief supply chain operations in India.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a framework to manage humanitarian logistics effectively in disaster management through qualitative analysis. First, the author examines the challenges facing the humanitarian logistics and supply chain through the reviews of the literature on various disasters. Then, the author presented a framework based on the best practices and initiatives taken worldwide in the preparedness and response stage of the humanitarian supply chain to manage and reduce the aftermath of any disaster in context to India.FindingsA framework has been developed to manage humanitarian logistics in the disaster relief operation, which would improve the humanitarian supply chain in India and help to effectively manage natural disasters in the preparedness and response stage at the state and district levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper mainly emphasises on the preparedness and response stage of disaster supply chain management in Indian context.Practical implicationsNone of the disaster incidents can be stopped from taking place, but the impact can be minimised by proper preparedness and effective response during the operations of humanitarian logistics. With this hope, the framework has been developed, which if implemented would help to plan and manage any disaster incident in an effective manner, which ultimately would save millions of lives and cost in terms of infrastructure, property, assets etc.Originality/valueAs natural disaster incidents are occurring frequently in Indian states, there is an urgent need for a framework to manage the logistics operations effectively and efficiently during any disaster relief operations. Limited literature is found on developing and presenting a framework focusing on the preparedness and response phase of disaster supply chain management in context to India. Hence, this paper is believed to be the first to fulfil this gap with main emphasis on the preparedness and response stage of disaster supply chain management in Indian scenario.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors and most significant reasons leading to supply chain inefficiency with respect to high cost, high lead time and poor quality at wholesale stage of mango supply chain in India, and also to find out the measures which may be taken to improve supply chain efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for an exploratory study using the quantitative and qualitative method of research. The study was conducted at Asia’s largest and world’s second largest fruits and vegetable wholesale market (Mandi) in Azadpur, Delhi. Factors have been identified using factor analysis and the measures to improve supply chain efficiency in fruits sector have been found out through semi-structured interviews with agri- and food-supply chain experts. Findings Based on the factor analysis, three factors were identified for high cost, namely, operational charges, labour and resources; four factors were identified for high lead time, namely, operational issues, labour, resources and infrastructure; and four factors were identified for poor quality, namely, operational issues, infrastructure, resources and poor ambience. It was also found that operational factor is the most significant factor leading to supply chain inefficiency. The study also highlighted the measures for improving supply chain efficiency based on the outcome of the interviews. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to the wholesale stage of fruit supply chain with the focus on Azadpur Mandi, Delhi, India, with specific reference to mango. Also, the measures have been identified for only the most significant reasons under each factor leading to supply chain inefficiency with respect to cost, time and quality. Originality/value There is a dearth of literature on improving the supply chain efficiency pertaining to the wholesale stage of fruits and vegetable sector in India. This paper tries to fulfil the gap and contributed to the literature on agriculture supply chain, which may be helpful for the researchers as well as the practitioners to improve food supply chain pertaining to developing countries.

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.

No abstract

Purpose The main aim of this paper is to develop a supply chain efficiency framework to improve overall business performance in the competitive era. This paper offers a critical literature review on supply chain efficiency that aims to reveal the basic research that has been carried out, the problem areas and requirements for the efficiency in the new era of the supply chain. Design/methodology/approach The methodology followed during this research involves beginning with a wide base of articles lying at the supply chain intersection, performance measurement topics, and then screening the list to concentrate on supply chain efficiency. Findings Findings show that supply chain efficiency in the modern era remains an open research field. This research contributes to the supply chain literature by clarifying the supply chain efficiency definition, defining key measurements and variables for supply chain efficiency and developing a supply chain efficiency framework to improve overall performance. Practical implications This study will be very useful to the scholars working in this field. The proposed framework would help researchers and academicians to understand every dimension and variable of supply chain efficiency, allowing practitioners to measure efficiency levels and identify improvement measures. This framework would also act as a comprehensive guide for future studies and business practices. Originality/value As there are several state-of-the-art review papers on various supply chain areas, there is a lack of literature available on supply chain efficiency studies that can provide a comprehensive framework for researchers on related literature. Thus, the present study seeks to bridge this gap in the supply chain literature. Also, this study will provide a strong basis for researchers and academicians to apply the supply chain efficiency measurement system to the dynamic supply chain.