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The countryside population has always been depended on the revenues earned from agricultural yields. These yields often suffer losses in the absence of coordination guidelines in the post-yield supply chains (PYSC). This study aims to identify, address and mitigate the post-yield supply chain impediments (PYSCIs) that lead to enormous amounts of waste and revenue losses. These are the parameters that require government and stakeholders’ attention for alleviation from losses.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to categorise the identified PYSCIs as “standard measures”. The motive for SEM results is to attract the stakeholders’ attention toward PYSCIs for business sustainability. The PYSCIs were clustered into three “standard measures” (i.e. strategic, tactical and operational measures) for revenue generation and reduced fresh produce spoilage in the countryside.

The SEM results suggest that the focus should be on revising minimum support prices and government support for initiatives, subsidy schemes and incentives at the strategic level. Tactical initiatives focus on linking markets including exports, research and development, attitude towards certification, value addition process adoption and reduced number of stages in the supply chain. The operational initiatives are attitudes towards agriculture and entrepreneurship, transportation infrastructure, supply chain coordination, information visibility, scientific design for packaging and handling and storage space availability for both long and short term at the village level.

This study was performed in India; thus, the research outcomes of this study are restricted to adaption into the developing sub-continents with sub-tropical climates.

The existing level of losses in the PYSC demands introspection and policy changes at the farm level. In the era of cold chains, the Internet of Things, and other advanced mechanisms, a few elementary parameters must be worked upon to reduce PYSC losses. These parameters were identified as impediments to PYSC, requiring public, government and stakeholders’ attention. There is an urgent need for guidelines to be issued to mitigate losses. SEM was performed to attract the public, government and stakeholders’ attention toward impediments to fresh produce spoilage, opportunity generation and business sustainability.

This study uses a novel SEM approach where the PYSCIs were identified and empirically validated in an Indian context. The SEM approach will help in effective decision-making. Similar studies to manage the PYSCIs to reduce fresh produce spoilage with standard measures have not been reported in the literature.

The cold supply chain industry is still emerging and digital transformation is in the nascent stage in this industry. This paper argues that there are various barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain and aims to develop and validate a model for overcoming key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain.

The adoption of blockchain technology was proposed through interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and further it is validated using structural equation modeling (SEM).

In this study, ten key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain were identified, modelled and analysed. Poor leadership style of top management was found to be the most important barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain. The results of SEM indicate that all the paths are supported. The findings showcase the barriers responsible for the lack of blockchain technology infrastructure that ultimately impacts the cold supply chains.

This study highlights the fact that the fate of blockchain technology infrastructure development depends on the leadership style of top management. Demonstrating good leadership style by top management can help overcome the barriers. A good leader pulls the entire team instead of pushing the team. A good leader can guide the entire team to improve IT governance, financial investment, digital footprint, digital readiness, skills and collaboration with service providers to implement blockchain technology. Not only that, a good leader provides mental strength to the team and helps overcome the fear of implementing blockchain in the cold supply chain. A good leader demonstrates good administrative skills and focus on security and privacy policies.

This is a novel contribution towards analysing the key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the South African cold supply chain using the integrated ISM–MICMAC and SEM approach.

Information and communication technology (ICT) implementation has demonstrated usefulness in supply chain coordination and efficiency optimization in various industries and sectors. This study investigates the extent of ICT deployment in fruits and vegetable supply chains (FVSC) from “farm-to-fork” to ensure food security.

This paper employs a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology and identified a total of 99 journal articles ranging from 2001 to April 2023 for analysis. The reviewed articles have been classified based on the framework proposed from the perspective of food security. Bibliometric and content analysis is carried out with the final list of articles to extract useful insights.

The findings reveal that ICT implementation in FVSC is a relatively new research area; researchers have started investigating several aspects of ICT in FVSC through varied research methodologies. Experimental research aimed at addressing food safety and condition monitoring of fruits and vegetables (FV) has started to gain traction while theory building is yet to gain traction in the literature reviewed. Findings indicate further research is required on technologies like blockchain (BCT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), especially on key objectives such as food security, and the triple-bottom-line approach of sustainability. It also indicates that implementing relevant ICTs in FVSC can help delay, if not avert, the food crisis predicted by Malthusian theory.

This study used only well-established databases to ensure quality of the studies examined. There is a possibility of missing out on articles from other sources not considered. As a result, future SLR studies may employ additional databases, such as Springer Link, Taylor and Francis, Emerald Insight and Google Scholar. Other methodologies such as expert interviews and extra empirical methodologies may also be employed to give a more balanced picture and insights into ICTs implementation in FVSC.

This study offers a summative detail of the status of ICT implementation in FVSC and can serve as a reference guide for stakeholders in developing strategies for efficient FVSC management. This research work highlights the impact of ICT implementation in FVSC on the four pillars of food security which include improved availability, accessibility, utilization and stability.

This study focuses on ICT implementation for food security in FVSC. The SLR highlights the gaps and proffers potential solutions that enhance global efforts on food security through ICT-enabled reduction in food waste and food loss in FVSC.