A Need For Paradigm Shift to Improve Supply Chain Management of Fruits & Vegetables in India

As the Indian population is increasing, the demand for fresh fruits and vegetables is also increasing. Owing to the perishable nature and very short shelf life, these items require proper storage and transportation facilities in order to reach to the customer in fresh state. A lack of investment in agriculture makes the country vulnerable to international price shocks as well as exchange-rate volatility. This requires a considerable amount of effort from the involved parties. The entire chain is fraught with issues like lack of transparency in pricing (at the farmers' end), dominance of traders, weak links in supply chain, etc. This leads to loss of revenue to the farmer and increased additional costs to the other supply chain partners, which ultimately enforces the final consumer to bear extra burden on his pocket. Since organized retail has started showing interest in marketing of fresh fruits and vegetables and they have already entered into the market with huge investments, the issues involved in this supply chain have changed dramatically and are influencing not only the supply chain partners but also the whole agriculture sector in India. The present study undertakes a thorough review of basic and contemporary literature available and tries to explain the challenges & opportunities in supply chain management to create a bridge between rural & urban market. It also brings out relevant research gaps and overlooked problems in the supply chain. The proposed research work is exploratory in nature using secondary sources. The data & information has been collected from various reports, newspapers, journals, magazines, websites etc. The main objective of this paper is to understand constraints in Supply Chain Management for perishable goods in our country and explore the various challenges and opportunities evolving in day to day product handling. Rapid entry of corporate into marketing of vegetables and fruits sectors will help the farmers as they are going for direct tie-ups with farmers eliminating the middle men at various levels. The major challenge is how to adopt best practices in supply chain management like collaborative forecasting, data integration, increased usage of IT, demand-based production, incorporating a pull system for fruit and vegetable production rather than a push system sharing risk and rewards by the supply chain partners, etc. What should Firms from established and mature economies are increasingly expanding into emerging markets. As Indian economy is still based on Agrarian economy proper supply chain management of perishable goods will play a crucial role in developing the economy & help India to emerge as a global leader in Food Sector. Having a galore of opportunities & resources the hindrance/gap between rural & urban market of India should be collaborated through proper vendor management, warehousing & logistics management.