Supply Chain Management in Rural Areas

India has a rare mix of both urban and rural pockets at regular intervals. Tremendous amount of logistics supply and coordination is required in rural areas to make the SCM system effective. One needs to be well acquainted with the geographical diversity to take better decisions about logistics. Most of the supplies move generally via these rural areas and hence one should be aware of these areas in a nutshell.

There are certain criticalities pertaining to logistics in rural areas

• Bulky, perishable, and expendable material with inferior packaging
• Large quantities and more number of collection points
• Large distance between the manufacturers and users
• Generally the trips made are one-way and hence not cost effective
• Work is not uniform, since logistics are restricted to peak seasons only
• Handcarts, tractors, boats, cycles and bullock carts are used to commute to certain places
• Storage, movement and packaging of agro products are difficult and time consuming

These are just a few but, there can be many more hindrances depending upon the nature of terrain and climatic conditions. Trading in rural areas is difficult and risky too.

Storage in rural areas is another criticality there are restricted storage areas and also the agro produces are seasonal in nature. These are the consumables which are used round the year, both in season and off-season. Storage starts right from the time the harvest is ready till it is distributed to the consumers.

Various storage options available are

• Farm storage
• Village collection centre
• Wholesaler’s storage
• Bins and self-help storage options
• Retailer’s storage
• Market place/selling points

Such products and specifically the farm produce have a shorter shelf life hence planned infrastructure has to be developed for proper storage facility like the cold rooms or refrigerated places. These areas still have a prehistoric transport starting from bullock carts, cycles, hand carts, rickshaw van, boats, animal transport and even stragglers. India has one of the largest road networks in the world with approximately 2.5 million kilometers of road network. National highway accounts to nearly 5200 km, which is barely 2% of the total roads in the country. The movement of goods from rural areas becomes more expensive due to its higher handling costs and number of organizations involved in it.