Study and analysis of some of the issues in supply chain of Jatropha seed production and distribution

Abstract

The world is embarking upon a major crisis with the fossil fuels, environment, and energy related issues. India s production capacity of petroleum fuel is only 25% of its requirement. In this scenario, alternative fuel such as the fuel from Jatropha Curcas (JC) has to be explored with the help of logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM). Therefore, the jatropha curcas cultivation, yield estimation and collection centre location are studied and analyzed in this research. In this research, a conceptual framework of JC supply chain network design has been developed. This framework focuses on the production and distribution of JC in Tamil Nadu. For the supply chain design network of JC, 54 taluks of Tamilnadu taluk is a geographical sub division of districts have been identified and data on climate conditions, unutilized waste lands and distance between taluks have been collected. A set of rules has been framed as per the expert opinion. These rules were validated using Classification and Regression Tree (CART) Algorithm. The values of temperature and rainfall were forecast using Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). These forecast values were utilized for yield estimation using Fuzzy logic. This fuzzy yield estimation was implemented using Visual Basic programming language. An optimum location of collection centres has been identified using P-median algorithm considering estimated yield. A generalized model was developed using VB for location of collection centers for N number of nodes. It is concluded that the framework and estimation procedure for collection center location are important for decision in planning of supply chains for alternative fuels. The utilization of waste land can be improved along with the overall cost reduction in this supply chain. The results of this research could be applied to other agricultural SCM practices and may be beneficial to farmers, planners, and administrators. This research can be further extended to develop a decision support system for farmers. newline newline