Identification and prioritization of wheat supply chain challenges

Ali  Kamyar; Mohammad Mehraeen; Alireza  Pooya; Rouhollah  Bagheri

Authors

Ali Kamyar PhD Student, Information Technology Management, Department of Management, Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3755-0490
Mohammad Mehraeen Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4154-8975
Alireza Pooya Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1252-2263
Rouhollah Bagheri Associate Professor, Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3154-7466

Keywords:

Food security, policymaking, agriculture, systematic review, expert opinion

Abstract

Wheat, as a strategic commodity, plays a central role in Iran’s food security. The wheat supply chain consists of various stages, including production, harvest, storage, processing, transportation, and distribution. At each of these stages, there are challenges that can affect productivity, product quality, and ultimately food security. This study was conducted with the aim of systematically identifying and prioritizing the challenges of the wheat supply chain, and to achieve this goal, a combined method including a systematic literature review and expert consultation was used. The literature review shows that the existing challenges in the wheat supply chain include production, processing, distribution, and managerial challenges. By reviewing relevant scientific articles and collecting expert opinions, various challenges in the stages of production, harvest, storage, processing, transportation, and distribution of wheat were identified. Then, through data analysis and thematic extraction, the challenges were derived and prioritized based on frequency and importance. The results indicated that the challenges of the wheat supply chain stem from structural issues; specifically, 70% of the ten key identified challenges have a managerial nature. At the top of this prioritization were the challenges of (1) the failure to set an appropriate guaranteed purchase price for wheat, (2) lack of coordination among supply chain organizations, and (3) lack of land ownership security. These findings show that policy inefficiencies override and exacerbate technical challenges such as water resource limitations. Therefore, it is suggested that a fundamental transition be made from mandatory pricing to sustainable economic models and that a governing institution be established to address systemic coordination problems.

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