Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Abstract

Scope of Supply Chain Management in Fruits and Vegetables in India

Rais M and Sheoran A

India is the world largest producer of many fruits and vegetables but there still exist huge gap between per capita demand and supply due to enormous waste during post-harvest storage and handling caused by improper bagging without crating, lack of temperature controlled vehicles, unavailability of cold chain facilities in various parts of country for preserving the produce, along with significant processing of the agricultural produce which results in immense losses to the nation. Hence a proper supply chain management in fruits and vegetables has to be improved in all the stages of the supply by adopting best global practices in storage, packaging, handling, transportation, value added service etc to meet the country’s demand of fruits and vegetables. As per this paper important drawbacks of the current supply chain are high level of wastage, quality degradation, poor infrastructural facilities and high cost. Government and private operators have to join hands to improve the physical infrastructure, information sharing and the service required for quality improvement of the supply chain.