Abstract—The realization of sustainable logistics for any agricultural product is always challenging. The value chain and Closed Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) for agricultural products are gaining importance over the years. Oranges are one such agricultural product that has a potential value chain after being used by juice-extracting industries. Oranges in particular Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata) is the most common orange type grown in India. This fruit alone occupies 40% of the total citrus fruits cultivated in India that demands a cost-effective supply chain network. The orange Market is widely branched into Food and Beverage industries, cosmetics, Pharma industries, food flavoring agents and essential oils. The orange peel, if wasted and not processed destroys the value of the product, though many valuable products can be derived from the peel. In this study, an attempt is made to design a new supply chain network for the orange industry after carefully studying the past literature works. A novel mixed integer linear programming model for the attempted supply chain network is developed to minimize the overall cost as an objective. An attempt is made to study the environmental issues in detail concerning the packaging and crates used and distribution problems. A mathematical model is proposed to effectively manage the packaging material and to control & reduce emissions. For optimum solution Keshtel Algorithm, the proposed network is designed to effectively serve the markets that use the value of the discarded orange peels after juice extraction.

Keywords—closed loop supply chain, Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP), supply chain network design, sustainable agriculture, value chain

Cite: Rajan Ponnusamy and Shahul Hamid Khan, "Designing a Multi Echelon Supply Chain Network for Citrus Fruits Inspecting the Economic, Social and Environmental Issues," Journal of Advanced Management Science, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 155-160, 2024.