The agricultural supply chain refers to activities involved in moving agricultural produce from farm to consumers.
Scope of Supply Chain Management of Agricultural Commodities
Post-Harvest Management- Handling, cleaning, grading, drying to reduce losses.
Storage & Warehousing – Scientific storage, packhouses, warehouses, silos.
Cold Chain for Perishables – Pre-cooling, refrigerated transport, cold storages.
Transportation & Logistics – Efficient transport, aggregation, multimodal connectivity. Eg- Kisan Rail.
Organised Retail & Export Integration: Connecting farmers with supermarkets, processors, exporters, and e-commerce channels. Eg- e-NAM
Value Addition & Processing – packaging, branding, food processing.
Export & Quality Compliance – Eg- SPS standards, AGMARK, FSSAI certification
Significance of Supply Chain Management
Reduces Post-Harvest Losses: India loses nearly (FAO).
Enhances Farmer Income due to reduced intermediaries. Eg- FPOs increase farmer income by 20-25% (SFAC).
Price Stability: Better logistics reduce volatility and transaction costs.
Boosts Agri-Exports due to better quality products & cold chain infrastructure. Eg- $53 billion in 2022-23.
Promotes Crop Diversification: Encourages high-value crops like horticulture, dairy, spices, and fisheries.
Strengthens Food & Nutritional Security: Efficient supply chains ensure timely availability and safe, hygienic food across regions.
Supports Rural Employment & Agri-Processing: Creates jobs in storage, logistics, milling, packaging, and retail.
Challenges to Agricultural Supply Chain Management
High Post-Harvest Losses: 6-18% losses due to poor handling, storage gaps, and weak cold chain.
Inadequate Infrastructure: Limited cold storages, packhouses, rural warehouses, and multimodal logistics.
Fragmented Supply Chains: Small landholdings (0.74 Hectare) and inefficient APMCs
Low Digital Adoption: Eg- only around 1500 APMCs integrated with APMCs
Strengthening supply chain management is key to ‘Doubling Farmers Income’. This can be done through
Expand modern storage
Promote FPO-led aggregation
Reform APMC laws
Promote value addition and FPIs.
Develop export-oriented supply chains with SPS labs and certification.
Enhance multimodal logistics