Vegetable Supply Chain Research Articles

SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE OF ORGANIC VEGETABLES (EVIDENCE ON SMES IN MALANG CITY)

The role of supply chain management strategies in the organic vegetable business is to createcompetitiveness by prioritizing fulfillment of consumer demand appropriately. One of the companiesengaged in the organic vegetable business in Malang City is Abang Sayur Organik (ABS) SMEs. Theorganic broccoli commodity is a superior product from ABS SMEs which continues supplied to retailand manufacture. Common problems that occur in the organic broccoli supply chain are fluctuations indemand and mismatches in the quality of products shipped. Measurement of supply chain performanceis needed to answer the existing problem. This study aims to describe the condition of supply chainmanagement and measure the performance of organic vegetable supply chains in ABS SMEs. The dataused are primary data obtained from questionnaires distributed to all ABS organic broccoli supply chainactors. Supply chain performance measurement uses the benchmark score method of Supply ChainOperation Reference (SCOR) performance indicators that include reliability, responsiveness, agility,costs, and assets with a value classification of parity, advantage, and superior. The results showed thatsupply chain actors involved were suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.Measurement of Perfect Order Fulfillment performance indicators at the position of advantage at the supplier level and superior at the distributor level to retail. The value of Order Fulfillment Cycle Timeand flexibility are superior at each actor, while the value of inventory days of supply at the supplier,distributor and manufacturing level is at a position of advantage but at the retail level at a superiorposition. Cash To Cash Cycle Time value is superior position in each supply chain actor, but for theTotal Supply Chain Management Cost value in each organic broccoli supply chain actor is in a gap-parity position

Improving vegetable supply chain collaboration: a case study in Vietnam

PurposeWhile various aspects of the vegetable supply chain (SC) have been increasingly studied, most studies tend to investigate the downstream part of the SC in terms of customer demand and product quality. Relatively fewer studies have focused on upstream suppliers/farmers. This study aims to understand upstream farmers’ positions in different types of vegetable SCs and identify ways of enhancing sustainable vegetable SC collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on an in-depth case study of a cooperative SC in Vietnam from the perspectives of both the cooperative and its farmers.FindingsThe study found that cooperative SCs are the most appropriate for Vietnamese farmers. It also identified the key activities needed to engage farmers with cooperative SCs and the mechanisms that the cooperative needs to develop. Cooperative SCs can be enhanced only when farmers are motivated to engage in SC activities and when the cooperative implements a robust management mechanism.Originality/valueThis study provides new, insightful results on how to engage with small fragmented farmers for SC collaboration and how to enhance the roles of cooperative SCs in the vegetable industry in Vietnam. It also provides information for policymakers to support sustainable vegetable SC development and maintain its sustainability.

‘A social justice logic’: how digital commerce enables value co-creation at the bottom of the pyramid

ABSTRACT The paper conceptualises digital technology as a source of innovation in value co-creation (VCC) at the bottom of pyramid (BOP) markets through fieldwork focused on vegetable supply chains in Indonesia. An inductive analysis based uponin-depth, semi-structured interviews with multiple business actors identified VCC in an emerging e-commerce channel where digital technologies enabled engagement and interaction amongst channel members. The results suggest that market scripting based upon an inclusive, collaborative and empowerment ideology, which can lead to sustainable development and income redistribution from consumers to producers, was explicitly embedded in their VCC agenda. Fair-trade practices supported customer-driven innovations. For consumers, digital technologies created online ‘consumption communities’ where information and educational interactions supported online food purchases and innovation in the supply chain ‘pull’ strategies. The paper concludes that the logic underpinning this new transformative business approach of digitally enabled VCC in local BOP markets is akin to a ‘social justice logic’.

Resilience of global and local value chains to the Covid-19 pandemic: Survey evidence from vegetable value chains in Senegal.

In this paper we descriptively investigate the Covid‐19 pandemic's early impact on the fruit and vegetable supply chain in Senegal, using trade statistics and survey data collected through online questionnaires and telephone interviews with smallholder farmers, agro‐industrial companies, agricultural workers, traders, importers, and consumers. Our results point to major differences in how Covid‐19 and containment measures disrupt supply chains between the modern export‐oriented supply chain that is centered around a few large vertically integrated agro‐industrial companies, and the more traditional domestic‐oriented supply chain with a large number of smallholder farmers and informal traders—with the former being more resilient to the Covid‐19 shock. We show that both the modern and the traditional supply chain innovate to cope with the Covid‐19 containment measures. While our study is subject to some limitations, our findings bring nuance in the debate on the resilience of the food system to the pandemic, and have important policy and research implications toward international trade, social safety measures, and food and nutrition security.

Evolution of research related to fruit and vegetable waste in agrifood supply chains: analysing past publications seeking to identify a path to future research

Population growth, coupled with a growing demand for food, and its consequent waste and economic, social, environmental, and nutritional impacts, has drawn attention to global discussions related to such issues. In this context, the objective of this research was to provide an overview of studies addressing food waste, in particular, fruits and vegetables. To achieve this purpose, a systematic literature review was carried out, covering papers published in international journals from 2007 to 2017, available in the Science Direct database. The results point out the best practices to avoid food waste, as mentioned in the literature considered. In addition, this study gathered information regarding the main characteristics of publications, such as the evolution of the number of publications per year; main methods and techniques used in research, and which journals excel at covering the theme. This paper may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in this topic since it systematizes the knowledge related to food waste in fruit and vegetable supply chains.

Sustainability assessment with structural equation modeling in fresh food supply chain management

The aim of this study is to determine the dimensions that affect the sustainability performance of the fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain and to determine the performance that occurs along the chain line. In this study conducted for the fresh fruit and vegetable sector, it is desirable to measure each dimension by finding the performance indices of sustainable supply chain management. Dimensions of this study include supply chain management, resource management, food safety, packaging, and waste management. For these five dimensions gathered from the literature and expert opinions, 26 sub-criteria are determined for use in performance evaluation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methods are used together to calculate the performance index of each dimension and then to obtain a final fresh vegetable and fruit supply chain performance score. This study has been performed in Turkey. Turkey, between the countries of the world, is located in the top 5 in the fruit and vegetable production. The performance of the five different dimensions is calculated. In this performance assessment, supply chain management dimension is calculated as the highest performance with a score of 91.22%. The lowest performance index score as 66.77% is the waste management dimension. The final sustainable fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain performance score is calculated as 79.96%. In addition to the limited performance evaluation studies in the sustainable supply chain, the fact that this study deals with the food chain, modeling and creating a final performance demonstrates the innovative aspect of the study. Attention is also drawn to the parameters that need to be addressed for more sustainable food.

Impact of COVID-19 on vegetable supply chain and food security: Empirical evidence from Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have substantial effects on the livelihood of people, but smallholder vegetables growers will be even more affected because of the perishability nature of the product. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Bangladesh on 8th March, 2020 and consequently the country went into lockdown on 26 March, 2020. This study has made a survey of vegetables farmers through a mobile phone to understand the impact of COVID-19 on vegetables supply chain, gross margin and the future production plan of the growers. In Bangladesh, the lockdown has disrupted the food supply chain and increases the likelihood of food insecurity. Lockdown has impeded vegetable farmers’ access to markets, thus limiting their productive and sales capacities. The price of yield has dropped by more than half resulting in huge loss for vegetable growers. The loss incurred by the farmers for producing Brinjal, Cucumber, Pointed gourd, Yardlong beans and Bottle gourd are BDT 4900, BDT 10900, BDT 57400, BDT 52500 and BDT 18500 per acre respectively as a result of COVID-19. The decreased income increases farmers’ likelihood of vulnerability and food insecurity and poses a challenge to continued produce. ‘Cash support’ is more important than ‘food support’ in order to keep vegetable farmers in farming, to ensure a ready supply of necessary low-cost resources, and to help fight against the upcoming food shortage.

Challenges of the Vegetable Production and Distribution Industry during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Recently, there are many concerns about the health consequences of COVID-19 as well as the global food supply. For this reason, assessing the impact of pandemic effects on the vegetable chain is critical to set policies to ensure an adequate supply of vegetables. Methods: In this study, major centers of processing and distribution of vegetables in various areas of Tehran have been studied. In the first phase, the status of the hygienic behavior of 192 staff of these centers in the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the second phase, the challenges of these centers were assessed. Data were collected through completing questionnaires, observation, and interviews with staff and statistically analyzed using SPSS. The relationship between independent (demographic characteristics) and dependent (behavior) variables were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: In the first quantitative phase, up to 51% of the respondents had a good hygienic behavior towards various aspects of the preventive measures. The behavioral mean scores were significantly related to educational level (p <0.05). Findings of the qualitative phase revealed that the outbreak of COVID-19, quarantine, and social distance measures to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus have not disrupted the vegetable supply chain, but it was observed that vegetable distributors and manufacturers have suffered the most from declining sales and after that, due to price volatility during the epidemic which is mostly due to lock-down. Conclusion: In general, the current economic situation may seriously impair the livelihoods of disadvantaged groups. Although most staff at vegetable centers follow the safety measures of using masks, these results show that this part of the population that is in continuous contact with different persons have not taken COVID-19 disease seriously.

Bullwhip Effect Study in Leaf Organic Supply Chain

The mismatch between the availability of vegetables and consumer demand is one of the causes of inefficient supply chains. This study aims to analyze the bullwhip effect on the organic leaf vegetable supply chain at PT Simply Fresh Organic (SFO). The analysis method used is a comparison between the coefficient of variation of orders created with the coefficient of variation in requests received by each supply chain institution. The data used are secondary data obtained from PT SFO. The measurement results show that the supply chain flow of organic leaf vegetables had a bullwhip effect at the PT SFO level and no bullwhip effect occurs at the retail level. The value of the BE supply chain value calculation at PT SFO shows a higher figure than at the retail level. The bullwhip effect at PT SFO occurred because of a rationing and shortage gaming policy. Therefore, each member of the supply chain must maintain transparency of data information and utilize digital technology to improve the accuracy of data forecasting requests and reservations quickly.

Risk Factors Related to Vegetable Wholesalers’ Opportunistic Behaviours Influencing Relationship Termination amongst Business Partners in Vegetable Supply Chain

Risk Factors Related to Vegetable Wholesalers’ Opportunistic Behaviours Influencing Relationship Termination amongst Business Partners in Vegetable Supply Chain

Developing a europe-Wide large-scale pilot for IOT in agriculture

The Internet of Things technologies have a lot of promise for use in the food and agricultural sector, particularly given the social and environmental problems that this industry faces. IoT technologies have the potential to revolutionize the food industry from farm to fork, contributing to food safety, agricultural input reduction, and food waste reduction. The implementation of IoT-based large-scale pilots (LSPs) throughout the whole supply chain will be a significant step toward wider adoption of these technologies. The difficulties and limitations that an LSP implementation of IoT in this area must address are outlined in this paper. In order to establish a set of technical and agrifood needs, sectoral and technological problems are outlined. We quickly describe an architecture based on a system of systems approach, emphasize the significance of solving the sector's interoperability problems, and discuss needs for new business models, security, privacy, and data governance. Finally, a summary of the technology and solutions used in pilot design for four agrifood domains (dairy, fruit, arable, meat, and vegetable supply chains) is given. Finally, it should be emphasized that for IoT to succeed in this area, a major cultural shift is required.

Reducing postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables through supply chain performance evaluation: an illustration of the application of SCOR model

Previous research revealed many causes of postharvest losses of food along the value chain. This study illustrates the application of the SCOR model's performance metrics in evaluating the performance of the supply chain of fruits and vegetables towards reducing losses. The results of the experiment shows that the reliability, responsiveness and agility performance of the supply chain is a reflection of the rate of quantitative and qualitative losses as well as the ability to deliver orders within the customer-commit dates. These ultimately determine the value of returns on capital and supply chain fixed assets. The performance scores have also been attributed to the management processes and practices. The implication is that, the economic value of losses along the value chain is a reflection of decision making and had a direct link with the profitability of the company. SCOR is therefore recommended to all fruit and vegetable supply chain managers.

Farmer Preferences in Choosing Middleman Known as Faria as Their Sales Partners in the Vegetable Supply Chain: A Case Study from the Lalmonirhat District of Bangladesh

Farmer Preferences in Choosing Middleman Known as Faria as Their Sales Partners in the Vegetable Supply Chain: A Case Study from the Lalmonirhat District of Bangladesh

Vegetable production under COVID-19 pandemic in China: An analysis based on the data of 526 households

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the vegetable supply chain in China. Effective evaluation of the pandemic's influences on vegetable production is vital for policy settings to enhance the security of vegetable supply. Based on first-hand data from 526 households, we explored regional differences in different types of loss and potential factors affecting the severity farmer households suffered during the pandemic. The results underline that sales contraction and price volatility in the context of interruption of supply chain dominate the total losses during the pandemic. Such losses differ across provinces and are more substantial in provinces with stricter confinement measures. Farmer households' participation in local market and modern marketing methods helps mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 shock, while labor hiring and facilities adoption in production widen the losses due to the shortage in the workforce. In the future, the vegetable industry practitioners and relevant government departments should work together to coordinate the development of short and long supply chains and strengthen the stability and security of the vegetable supply chain.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on vegetable production and countermeasures from an agricultural insurance perspective

In the face of the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is essential to stabilize the security of urban “shopping baskets”. Through a survey and interviews with 46 agricultural cooperatives in Shanghai, this paper analyzes the impact of the pandemic on vegetable production and offers suggestions on agricultural insurance. The research results show that: (1) the pandemic has impacted almost all stages of the vegetable supply chain but has had a greater impact on the sales stage; (2) the market risks of vegetable production have increased significantly, and the gap between the field price and the market price has widened. The sales price difference between traditional channels and e-commerce is notable; (3) farmers' incomes have generally declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and traditional small-scale farmers have suffered more losses; and (4) agricultural insurance plays an important role in stabilizing the supply of vegetables to the city. To minimize the impact of the pandemic on vegetable production and to stabilize both urban “shopping baskets” and farmers' incomes, it is necessary to further improve agricultural insurance, especially to provide insurance against market risks.

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

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.

EVALUATION OF PARTNERSHIP RELATIONSHIP IN ORGANIC VEGETABLE SUPPLY CHAIN IN CV. KURNIA KITRI AYU FARM MALANG

Market demand for organic vegetables at CV. Kurnia Kitri Ayu Farm continues to grow according to consumer needs. Market development is determined by the quality and continuity of the marketing distribution. To maintain this, in its business activities CV. Kurnia Kitri Ayu Farm established partnerships with several parties. The objectives of the research were 1) Knowing the supply chain of organic vegetables both in partnership and non-partnership with CV. KKAF, 2) Knowing the partnership patterns formed in the CV. KKAF, 3) Evaluating trust, commitment, communication, satisfaction, and dependence in organic vegetable supply chain partnerships. Respondents in this study consisted of the head of partner farmer groups, owners of CV. Kurnia Kitri Ayu Farm and the head of staff as a permanent partner for the home industry (baby care). The results showed 1) The flow of the organic vegetable supply chain consisted of the flow of goods, the flow of money, and the flow of information, 2) the partnership patterns contained in the organic vegetable supply chain, namely the plasma core partnership pattern, subcontracts, and general trading, 3) All parties in the supply chain on average feel very confident, have a very good commitment, communicate frequently, feel satisfied, and are very dependent on the performance of its partner members.

Pricing and inventory decisions in a manufacturer-Stackelberg supply chain with deteriorating items

PurposeIntegrated decision of pricing and inventory control for a deteriorating product is known as a good practice in revenue management discipline. The purpose of this paper is to formulate the problem of joint pricing and inventory decision in a manufacturer–retailer supply chain with deteriorating items and backlogging. Furthermore, the other purpose is to develop an efficient algorithm to obtain the equilibrium solution.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a manufacturer–retailer supply chain of a deteriorating product is considered. The retailer aims to maximize his profit, for which he jointly determines the retail price and replenishment cycle. In addition, the manufacturer should decide on the wholesale price to maximize her profit. Considering the problem as a manufacturer-Stackelberg game, the equilibrium solution is formulated and analyzed for both the manufacturer and the retailer. Moreover, two different procedures are developed to obtain the equilibrium solution. The first procedure is an exact procedure for the Taylor-approximated model and the second is a simulated annealing (SA)-embedded algorithm for the actual model.FindingsIt is found that Taylor-approximated procedure is more accurate than SA-embedded procedure. However, the latter is more time-efficient. Moreover, it is observed that the obtained solution is highly sensitive to demand parameters, while it is not the case for the cost parameters.Originality/valueThe paper models a real industrial problem, and its results could be used in analyzing any manufacturer–retailer supply chain with deteriorating items. Among others, the fruit and vegetable supply chains are more likely to have a similar setting, and this study’s results are applicable for such chains in food industry.

Using a methodological approach to model causes of food loss and waste in fruit and vegetable supply chains

Food loss and waste occur at all stages of the food supply chain. Since their causes are interconnected and may influence each other, then approaches with holistic supply chain perspectives are useful to map their relationships and guide the selection, design and implementation of the appropriate mitigation strategies. In this paper, 14 causes of food loss and waste in fruit and vegetable supply chains were identified and divided into seven levels of influence, by the Interpretive Structural Modelling methodology, showing that the logistic related causes have a major influence on the others. Furthermore, five root causes were identified by the Matrix Impact of Cross Multiplication Applied to Classification analysis (inadequate transportation systems, inadequate or defective packaging, lack of storage facilities, poor handling and operational performance and lack of coordination and information sharing) and used to discuss the mitigation strategies that should be implemented to reduce food loss and waste.

Digital integration to enhance market efficiency and inclusion of smallholder farmers: a proposed model for fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain

High-value agriculture in India is witnessing a transformation, specifically in fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV). Supply chain stakeholders, mainly small and marginal farmers, receive a very minimal share in consumer rupee due to market uncertainty, high post-harvest losses, information asymmetry, lack of processing facilities and the erratic demand-supply situation. The current study draws from an extensive review to propose a competitive, inclusive, sustainable and scalable supply chain model of primary processing centers connecting farmers directly and efficiently with consumers. The proposed model will connect producers with the rest of the supply chain and streamline the supply chain process to reduce post-harvest losses as much as possible. The integration of a market information system will ensure transparency to help in better decision-making, reduced intermediaries and information asymmetry for producers, as well as the systematic disposal of the produce. The model will increase the efficiency of the FFV supply chain and has practical implications for agribusiness management and policymakers in relation to FFV supply chain development in India.