What are the impediments in marketing and supply chain management in developing the food processing industry in India ? Can e-commerce help in overcoming these bottlenecks ?

But this industry faces certain constraints such as:

1- Perishable goods:- Raw material has low shelf life, Industry needs to be located nearby to fully utilise agricultural goods, which otherwise get rotten. eg: Fruits, vegetables fresh for only 3-4 days.

2- Transportation - Costly for small scale farmers, high fuel costs discourage farmers.

3- Storage - Most farmers do not have appropiate storage system.

4- low produce - Most farmers have less than 1 ha of holdings, with very low produce, not ideal for industry supply.

5- Contracted Issues - Many farmers illetrate, no idea of legality of contracts with industry, get exploited.

6- Quality control - Industry demands certain quality standards, if farmer fail due to unavoidable reasons, farmers left in distress

Thus, agri-food supply chain system faces certain issues. However, there are certain suggestions to overcome these hurdles

1- eNAM portal needs to be strengthened, so that farmers could trade their produce at live prices. It becomes legal and enforceable, protecting farmers.

2- MANDI system should be revamped to remove middle man and farmers get direct benefit.

3- SHGs like Farmers Producers Organisations to be strengthened so that group of farmers could collectively deal with their produce.

4- Storage system needs to be improved. Increase private participation to provide end-to-end storage and transport facilities.