Purpose The allium supply chain of India has huge post-harvest losses and major price volatility, which threatens to jeopardize the livelihoods of 145 million smallholder farmers in India. The research proposes a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework based on theory that specifically addresses crop specificity based on characteristics of allium regarding its unique ability to be stored and regional contextualization of India's Agricultural Produce Market Committee institutions and infrastructure limitations. Design/methodology/approach The analytic hierarchy process was used in this study along with 320 stakeholder participants. It evaluated criteria within three major strategic alternatives. A consistency metric was used to establish the robustness of the results (consistency ratio = 0.0243) as well as a series of comprehensive sensitivity analyses. Findings Analytical hierarchy process results show cost efficiency is the most prevalent criterion, which has a weight of 28.5%. A combination of economic and infrastructure factors forms 76.8% of the decision priority. The tech-optimized chain solution is the strategy with the best results, as one of them (Global Priority (GP) = 0.336) is very effective and efficient in risk management. Close to it was the Sustainable Harvest Initiative (GP = 0.318), with the difference of just 5.4%, meaning that the strategic trend is shifting towards sustainability. The E-Commerce Synergy Strategy was the lowest (GP = 0.277) and was ranked less, mainly because of the lack of infrastructure. Sensitivity analysis showed that the production criterion has a disproportionate impact with a 90% threshold on the stability of the rank. The stakeholder analysis also revealed a high level of heterogeneity: retailers have a unique emphasis on sustainability, which can turn the rankings of the strategies upside down once their preferences are considered independently of each other. Originality/value This study establishes the large-scale, validated MCDM framework tailored specifically to a crop supply chain. Theoretically, it extends the resource-based view by demonstrating the necessity of hierarchical resource sequencing in agricultural systems. The framework quantifies impacts on key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 2, 12 and 13), explicitly positioning supply chain optimization within the broader global sustainability agenda.
Gundwal et al. (Mon,) studied this question.