Modeling the Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design for Food-Agricultural Industries considering Social and Environmental Impacts

Abstract

The food supply chain is one of the most sensitive supply chains as it is directly related to the health of humans and society. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the components of the sustainable supply chain in the food industry. For this purpose, in the first step, several studies and research backgrounds have been conducted by researchers to identify the effective index on sustainability in the food and agricultural supply chain. After reviewing the literature, general indicators of sustainability that affect the agricultural supply chain are specified. Next, by using the fuzzy DEMATEL method, the effectiveness and efficiency of these criteria in three economic, environmental, and social dimensions have been assessed. The results show that in the economic dimension, the use of high technology in the production and the presentation of various citrus forms by using intermediate and conversion industries is the most effective. Criteria for purchasing and using livestock manure instead of using chemical fertilizers have a very high level of effectiveness. In the environmental dimension, reducing or eliminating waste production using recyclable and environmentally friendly materials has the most significant impact. In the social dimension, the positive mental image of customers has a more positive approach to manufacturers who use a sustainable supply chain and has the most impact. The main achievement of this study is that the most important factor in sustainability is the citrus quality control of the agricultural supply chain.