In Southern Africa due to unsystematically and uncoordinated regional value chain (RVCs), plenty of perishable agricultural products are lost because of spoilage and poor postharvest system ...misaligning upstream and downstream partners. Although appeal for increasing trade in Southern Africa region may seem plausible, there are strictly speaking no well-grounded economic reasons why perishable agricultural products trade should be an obsession. Broad-based inclusive RVCs through blockchaining perishable agricultural products could enable far more effective responses to region’s sustainable developmental challenges as it does in developed and emerging economies. Recently, the rise and expansion of inclusive RVCs and emphasis on blockchain has spurred major paradigm shift on revamping postharvest system. The investigate relevance of blockchaining initiatives towards inclusive RVCs to perishable agricultural products in Southern Africa. Through a quantitative research approach involving quantitative data collection methods, the research aims to assess the current challenges, opportunities, and perceptions regarding blockchain technology in the agricultural sector. Study findings practically and empirically contribute to excel blockchain for supporting development of inclusive and resilient value chains, providing insights for policymakers and stakeholders in promoting sustainable economic growth in Southern Africa’s agricultural sector.
•The study proposes an optimized time window constraint model, incorporating multi-punishment factors, to balance multiple factors in path planning for cold chain transportation of perishable ...agricultural products.•The improved Ant Colony Optimization (IACO) method is used to generate distribution paths with shorter distances, providing new technical support for perishable agricultural product cold chain distribution path optimization.•The proposed model shows better computational efficiency compared to traditional Genetic Algorithm (GA) methods.
With the development of modern logistics industry, the cold chain logistics distribution of perishable agricultural products has become an important link to ensure food quality and safety. Aiming at the complicated situation in the process of perishable agricultural products transportation path planning, a cold chain logistics distribution path optimization model based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) was proposed. Based on the traditional soft and hard time window constraint model, an optimized time window constraint model was proposed, and the update function of pheromone increment was substituted to optimize the traditional ant colony algorithm. An Improved Ant Colony Optimization (IACO)-time-window constrained path optimization model was proposed. The test results showed that in the convergence training experiment in Matlab environment, the research method only needed 19 iterations to reach the lowest level. In the experiment of application effect, the length of the path generated by the research method for car a was 188.93 km. Car Group a could complete 60.38 % offload at the fourth distribution node. The experimental results showed that the proposed route optimization model had better iteration efficiency and could effectively generate a shorter distance distribution path, which provides a new technical support for the route optimization of cold chain distribution of perishable agricultural products.
In this paper, a path optimization model of cold chain logistics distribution was proposed. By improving the time window constraint and introducing the update function of pheromone increment to optimize the ant colony algorithm, the path planning optimization problem in the cold chain logistics distribution of perishable agricultural products was solved. The results show that in the total cost convergence test, the initial total cost function value of the research method is lower than 3245. In the practical application analysis, the total path length of the two transport vehicles is 188.93 km and 214.44 km respectively.
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Purpose Due to the importance of quality to customers, this study considers criteria of quality and profit and optimizes both in a multi-echelon cold chain of perishable agricultural products whose ...quality immediately begins to deteriorate after harvest. The two objectives of the proposed cold chain are to maximize profit and quality. Since postharvest quality loss in the supply chain depends on various decisions and factors, in addition to strategic decisions, the authors consider the temperature setting in refrigerated facilities and transportation vehicles due to the unfixed shelf life of the products which is related to the temperature found by Arrhenius formula. Design/methodology/approach The authors use bi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming to design a four-echelon supply chain. The authors integrate the supply chain echelons to detect the sources and factors of quality loss. The four echelons include supply, processing, storage and customer. The decisions, including facility location, assigning nodes of each echelon to corresponding nodes from the adjacent echelon, allocation of vehicles to transport the products from farms to wholesalers, processing selection, and temperature setting in refrigerated facilities, are made in an integrated way. Model verification and validation in the case study are done based on three perishable herbal plants. Findings The model obtains a 29% profit against a total cost of 71 and 93% of original quality of the crops is maintained, indicating a 7% quality loss. The final quality of 93% is the result of making a US$6m investment in the supply chain, including the procurement of high-quality raw materials; facility establishment; high-speed, high-capacity vehicles; location assignment; processing selection and refrigeration equipment in the storage and transportation systems, helping to maximize both the final quality of the products and the total profit. Research limitations/implications The proposed supply chain model should help managers with modeling decisions, especially when it comes to cold chains for agricultural products. The model yields these results – optimal location-allocation decisions for the facilities to minimize distances between the network nodes, which save time and maintain the majority of the products’ original quality; choosing the most appropriate processing method, which reduces the perishability rate; providing high-capacity, high-speed vehicles in the logistics system, which minimizes transportation costs and maximizes the quality; and setting the right temperature in the refrigerated facilities, which mitigates the postharvest decay reaction rate of the products. Practical implications Comparison of the results of the present research with those of the traditional chain (obtained through experts) shows that since the designed chain increases the profit as well as the final quality, it has benefits for the main chain stakeholders, which are customers of agricultural products. This study model is expected to have a positive impact on the environment by placing strong emphasis on quality and preventing excessive waste generation and air pollution by imposing a financial penalty on extra demand production. Social implications Since profit and quality of the final product are two important factors in all cultures and communities, the proposed supply chain model can be used in any food industry around the world. Applying the proposed model induces growth in local industries and promotes the culture of prioritizing quality in societies. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research on a bi-objective four-echelon (supply, processing, storage and customer) postharvest supply chain for agricultural products including that integrates transportation logistics and considers the deterioration rate of products as a time-dependent variable at different levels of decision-making.
Various perishable agricultural products are recalled due to harmful health risks. Blockchain has been used to reduce the amount of such products wasted and disposed. Specifically, a supply chain ...with a wholesaler, a retailer, and customers is considered where the retailer decides when to switch from a conventional supply chain information management system (SCIMS) to a blockchain-based SCIMS. This article models the uncertain customers' demand as a geometric Brownian motion process and shows how to obtain the optimal demand threshold above which the switch occurs and the corresponding expected time. Next, the model is extended by incorporating two types of government subsidies (i.e., a fixed subsidy on the switching cost and a variable subsidy per unit demand). Through sensitivity analysis and numerical studies, the impacts of key parameters on the optimal demand threshold and expected time of switching are presented. Finally, managerial insights and policy implications are derived.
In this article, we study the inventory replenishment model for perishable agricultural products in a simple two-level supply chain. Collaborative forecasting is introduced into the inventory ...replenishment decisions to avoid overstocking and understocking of agricultural products, and to maximise profits. We analyse the model with ordering cost, holding cost, shortage cost, deterioration cost and opportunity lost cost of perishable agricultural products. Extensive numerical analysis is carried out to study the performance of the inventory policy. The optimal replenishment policy that minimises the total cost can be obtained from the model. It has demonstrated that the supply chain cost decreases with supplier and retailer's collaborative forecasting.
China began connecting farmers directly with supermarkets 10 years ago, when they were at a disadvantage and forced to sell products at low prices, as unstable cooperation among supply chain ...participants led to inequitable distribution of revenue. Revenue-sharing contracts offer a risk-sharing approach to ensure supply chain coordination and optimize profit for all. Research on short life cycle products with revenue-sharing contracts assume stable prices or investigate the effects of revenue-sharing contracts on supply chain coordination. This study introduced a revenue-sharing contract model into a ‘farmer-supermarket direct-purchase’ supply chain, considering price fluctuation and retail promotional efforts, stochastic market demand, among other factors. Revenue-sharing contracts achieved long-term stability in supply chain coordination, all participants obtained more profits, and the size of revenue-sharing parameter depends on the position and bargaining power of all participants. A case study on Tianhong supermarket and Nanxia farmer cooperative verified these findings, eliciting practical implications for professionals and policymakers.
China began connecting farmers directly with supermarkets 10 years ago, when they were at a disadvantage and forced to sell products at low prices, as unstable cooperation among supply chain ...participants led to inequitable distribution of revenue. Revenue-sharing contracts offer a risk-sharing approach to ensure supply chain coordination and optimize profit for all. Research on short life cycle products with revenue-sharing contracts assume stable prices or investigate the effects of revenue-sharing contracts on supply chain coordination. This study introduced a revenue-sharing contract model into a ‘farmer-supermarket direct-purchase’ supply chain, considering price fluctuation and retail promotional efforts, stochastic market demand, among other factors. Revenue-sharing contracts achieved long-term stability in supply chain coordination, all participants obtained more profits, and the size of revenue-sharing parameter depends on the position and bargaining power of all participants. A case study on Tianhong supermarket and Nanxia farmer cooperative verified these findings, eliciting practical implications for professionals and policymakers.
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